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It certainly did connect less educated. This is a only part of the picture - the misinformation crisis also involves the miseducated.

The quality of our collegiate has been much displaced by the rise of the true-believing college administrator with authority to suppress unorthodox curriculum and research.

Facebook ALSO gives this cancer a platform.

Facebook does not give the cancer a platform. Facebook is the cancer.

So if Facebook is gone we’ll all reconnect in a kumbaya?

Is ‘less educated’ code for people with views different to yours?

No, there are some less educated people who share the same views as me. But it is no secret that the degree of education correlates strongly with certain political views. And the people currently in power in America certainly know that and play that to their advantage.

They know full well that their proposed solutions won't work a bit, but instead make them richer along the way. But the less educated people don't know that, they are being abused and mislead. I am not against conservative people and also not against people with different views. We live in a plural society and that is a good thing. It becomes a problem when some of those people can't tell the difference between truth and lie.

While it's probable that formal education levels correlate with political choices, it doesn't necessary imply that higher degree leads to better ones, or even reduces possibility of being manipulated.

Also, every major player of every political fight knows, and has tools to "play to their advantage", it's not like some bad vs good fairytale.

And if you are against all major players then you may want to consider that it is exactly yours opinion which eventually will be censored if the idea about mandatory purging of "bad information" wins.

Exactly. I was referring to formal education. And I didn't mean that a higher degree leads to better choices. But it does reduce the possibility of being manipulated through fake news. And while talking about education, we should also overhaul the way it is mostly taught - from simple memory functions to actual critical thinking and understanding. Go check any authoritarian or reactionary government - they cut spending in education, fighting poverty and social welfare. For exactly that reason: gaining more voters in the long term.

>it does reduce the possibility of being manipulated through fake news

I'm sorry to say, but there's no evidence it's true. Formally more educated, and formally less educated belong to different social tribes, and react to different information stimulants, and that's all. Advertising industry successfully pushes peoples choices of all sorts of education.

Also, I believe your idea of authoritarianism is not wholly correct. I was born, and raised in a real dictatorship which provided free tuition (probably, at least partially because it makes a great influence, and control apparatus once nationalized) as well as cheap health, and communal services. In fact, all left dictatorships did/do it to some extent to have an ideological selling point. Also, dictatorships often care less about one's voting pattern, because they can count it properly. What do they always care about? Information. They all restrict freedom of speech.

What kind of evidence would convince you that education results in less susceptibility to propaganda? This seems facially true to me, but if someone studied it formally would you believe the results since the researchers are educated?

> But it does reduce the possibility of being manipulated through fake news.

Really??? Most "educated" people are proud of their indoctrination. They frame it and put it on their wall and resume

Education is, by intent, the opposite of indoctrination.

Using scare quotes and imolicitly asserting that most of what goes by as education is actually indoctrination without argument as if it was an established, uncontroversial fact is not a substantive contribution to the discussion, though it is a good way of signalling a particular tribal affiliation.

> I am not against conservative people and also not against people with different views. … It becomes a problem when some of those people can't tell the difference between truth and lie.

Perhaps we should create camps that educate these people on political issues.

Rehabilitation is no doubt in order.

You live in a bubble that reinforces your views. It's a problem everyone deals with.

Yes, it is.

Does everything have to be a code for something else? Half of this problem comes from people seeing "dog whistles" everywhere.

There should be a rule for discussion: take what people say at face value, or don't participate. Nothing good comes from "reading between the lines", it's just an exercise in projecting your own issues on other people.

> Does everything have to be a code for something else?

No I don’t think it does have to be - plain speaking is generally better.

Yes, it is blame-shifting.

Facebook's board knows exactly what it is doing. Are they going to take a hit from their shareholders given the choice? No.

> We thought the Internet would bring prosperity and an explosion of knowledge growth

Yes, but the movement also came with a mandate, that information and services should be free. That severly restricts the business models available. I dont think consumers can solve the problem easily. They are caught in behavior-modifying algorithms. The problem is a new business model needs to be created.

> Again, education is at the core of a solution to this misinformation crisis.

What proof do you have of this assertion? There are at least two reasons to be suspicious of the argument.

1.) It's self-serving. Many people who make it are themselves highly educated. It's a short step to advocating rule by philosopher kings, which has a very checkered history. [1]

2.) It seems easy to contradict. For example, one of the most effective ways to assess any political argument is to know who is funding it. It's hard to see how anyone can make informed decisions without such information. Level of education seems to be irrelevant here.

It's also worth noting while the authors of the American Constitution were big fans of education, they put more faith in mechanisms like separation of powers and representative government to anchor the political system. In fact one of Madison's arguments in favor of education was to "multiply the educated individuals from among whom the people may elect a due portion of their public Agents of every description." [2] That's quite different from saying that everyone must have these qualities in equal measure.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosopher_king

[2] http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch18s35....

Do you think it's okay for educated people to compare some of our current political leaders (and not some of our other recent leaders) to Mussolini or even Hitler?

It seems like an unfair comparison to make, yet I see "educated" people do it a lot and have started taking anyone who does this less seriously. What I can't understand is how one reconciles the idea that "education is the solution" with "educated people keep saying dumb shit." Or even worse, some educated people are simply okay with dishonesty.

> Do you think it's okay for educated people to compare some of our current political leaders (and not some of our other recent leaders) to Mussolini or even Hitler?

Yes? So long as the comparison is based on actual facts, both about the fascists and the present day?

The more pertinent facts in making such a comparison would be the tremendous death toll and brutality as a result of their leadership.

I thought it was not okay eight and sixteen years ago, and it still looks to be not okay today, or not an argument with any intellectual weight to it. But "educated" people sure like it.

The idea is to remove people from power before they get to have a death toll. Generally it becomes impossible to remove them during the terror.

> We thought the Internet would bring prosperity and an explosion of knowledge growth.

Sheesh, this is centuries long rinse-repeat with press, radio, TV ...

You do get that, but more better advertising, and incidental worldview shaping, is what you get that really matters.