Hacker News Reader

Comment by AutumnCurtain | Hacker News Reader

>social media enables the construction and enforcement of intellectual and political orthodoxy.

You hit on it, but this is the crux to me - what makes them think this wasn't possible before? Or, if they did think it possible before, how does voluntary sharing to a community compare with, say, church-driven enforcement of intellectual and political orthodoxy? I agree, there were no good old days on this topic.

View on HN

> ...church-driven enforcement of intellectual and political orthodoxy

It's interesting you noted that line. When I read it, I was thinking of the legendary Saturday Night Live "Church Lady" skits. The character Dana Carvey created perfectly captured the judgemental, moralizing environment I saw in church communities as a child. The skit was so funny because it reflected a reality barely hidden beneath a thin-veneer of faux-friendliness.

This was possible before social media, but social media (like most technology) allows it to happen faster, on a larger, scale, and cheaply. Before you had to rely on neighbors' gossip. Now you have Facebook, where your "neighbors" from two continents over tell you things are wrong in your neighborhood.

The church mention reminded me of this article on the pre-Soviet Russian intelligentsia:

https://www.firstthings.com/article/2020/10/suicide-of-the-l...

They lived in meat Twitter a hundred years ago.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com