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Comment by P-ala-din | Hacker News Reader

I just watched this video a few hours ago because youtube randomly recommended it to me.

I wonder if it's just the Baader–Meinhof effect or if the post was caused by the same youtube algorithm.

I've seen a few time things like that, you often see short and weird videos in the millions of views with everyone saying in the comments that they came suddenly due to the algorithm. I've always had this theory that at some people people (or machines) realized that it's easier to push everyone to have the same tastes compared to catering to every single niche. I think it's an extension of that.

i would use the term frequency illusion, as baader-meinhof refers to a specific instance of someone who coined the term, and are members of a former west german left extremist terrorist group which actually killed people. pretty weird that it continues to be in use, it'd be as if we discovered this effect today and called it the taliban effect or the stalin gulag effect.

I see nothing wrong with the examples you provide.

Why? yes they should be remembered for the atrocities they did … why change the name?

I’m always worried that if we engage in this type of cancelling we will end up with vilification and people will forget that Stalin and Hitler were also just people (and not evil looking demons).

The Taliban got a dedication on an Apollo mission and in one of the Rambo movies … now these things tend to be forgotten. It’s always better to remember and remind people about the potential of evil we (you and me) can do to other people. Leave the name, yet make sure that the article and every mention refers also to the R A F.

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