Today on MSNBC's Morning Joe, several people talked about friends and relatives who had fallen down the right-wing conspiracy rabbit-hole, blamed it on the things they were reading on Facebook, and yet described these friends and relatives as "educated and intelligent".
My immediate unspoken response was "No, they are not." No "educated, intelligent" person could possibly read the Qanon, Big Lie, anti-vax compendium of "theories" (in quotes because these things do not in any way meet the dictionary definition) and take them seriously. Further, I have to ask, "Why are these things even coming up in their Facebook feed?" I am on FB almost constantly--at least four or five hours every day, probably more--and I only see this nonsense when someone links to it to deride it, to cast scorn on those who believe it, to demonstrate how inane it is. If it's coming up on your feed in any other way, it can only be because you have searched it out, you have "friended" someone who regularly posts it, or you have joined a group dedicated to spreading it around.
Don't blame any of that on FB's algorithms, either. Unless you have expressed an interest in this claptrap, the algorithms will not send it to you. Yes, when I search for information on, say, air conditioners, I get ads for air conditioners on the FB wall for the next several days. But since I do not search for info on right-wing conspiracies, I do not get such material directed to me.
If you do get this stuff and you link to it, and then continue to link to it, and begin to believe it, you're just stupid. And as the old saying goes, "You can't cure stupid."
2 comments:
I will put forward the idea that beliefs in things the ordinary person labels “stupid” has to do with personality of the believer. Yes, an ordinary Facebook user would not get posts and ads espousing radical, unpopular conspiracy type ideas. However, FB friends and acquaintances can put such nonsense on a person’s feed and then the users curiosity and personality will cause them to like or click links that algorithms will keep bringing up. A person naturally wants to find information and posts that agree with their beliefs and attitudes. Facebook is built to make that easier for the user. Anyway, not sure this comment proves anything but at least Facebook is “trying” to keep inflammatory posts from getting into user feeds.
"A person naturally wants to find information and posts that agree with their beliefs and attitudes."
But that's exactly my point: An educated, intelligent person should not find himself in agreement with the beliefs and attitudes in the far-right conspiracy postings. They are clearly not based in rational, logical thought or verifiable facts. If he is in agreement with these ideas, then he has already been primed somewhere along the line to find them sensible.
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