TikTok Brings War Home to Your Child | Hacker News Reader

TikTok Brings War Home to Your Child

wsj.com

14 pointsironyman26 comments

Pretty sure I'll get downvoted for this, but it needs to be said.

I've got a couple of thoughts with the problems people have with all social media, not just tiktok:

- The reason why the social media propaganda is so effective is bc it can target and amplify real grievances - and I want to emphasize real grievances. Example - most cops are not racists thrill killers, but there are plenty of wrongful shootings of black folks + George Floyd, and russian trolls can amplify that easily to create dissent. Same with the Bin Laden letter - turns out that US policy in the middle east has been more harmful than good [1], and US government is freaking out, not bc their kids are turning into jihadists, its bc the government propaganda is now transparent and the kids are pissed.

- If we banned tiktok (or any other social media company) someone will make another in its place. The tech and business model are no longer novel. Instagram's V1 was on the app store in 2 months. Banning or regulating social media (especially the way Nikki Haley wants, with removing anonymity) will not solve anything long term.

- So what is the solution long term? Let's start with not doing more harm than good in the world. Second, there aren't any institutions that are going to save the day. Both political parties are corrupt to the core, and function for their donors, not their constituents (internalize that, and the world will start to make more sense). Therefore, the memetic fight for the people you love will start and end at home and not on X, facebook, tiktok - that's all I'll say about that.

[1] If you really want to go down the Bin Laden rabbit hole, watch the 1997 Peter Bergen interview. He basically gives 3 reasons as to why he turned on the US (after being an ally, btw): (1) US support of Israel at the expense of Palestinians, (2) US support of the Saudi family and their corruption, (3) the presence of US military in Arab countries. Funny, none of those reason have anything to do with "hating freedom" and has everything to do with US foreign policy in the middle east.

Well said.

> If we banned tiktok (or any other social media company) someone will make another in its place.

That's the point, make another in its place, but make one that isn't affiliated with a hostile foreign government. There are enough resources in the USA to have a clone of it

This is an extremely cogent take on the state of things. Oct 7th was effectively a shattering of the old world view of a US superpower, MSM lead narrative, DNC/GOP duopoly of thought and politics... There are still many people that hold that world view, but there are now many who don't and won't ever again.

An interesting question in general, not just for children: Is it desirable at all to see videos of graphic violence, even if they are accurate? Does this improve anyone's judgement?

War is entirely different when it goes from "Jimmy heard that bombs were dropped on a hospital" to "here is a hospital where bombs are dropped. Here are the people trying to pull family members and the dead out of the rubble. Here is a cat feasting on the remains of a deceased person because there's no food in the area. Here is a man throwing the body parts of his child into a duffel bag so that he can bury them according to his religious customs."

War is a neat little 3 letter word. The brutality that war inflict should be mandatory viewing so that we know what engaging them costs regular people.

It's different, but is it beneficial?

Of course it is.

Everyone should learn how the sausage is made. It makes it far more difficult to brainwash you with jingoism later on.

I have absolutely no scientific basis for this, so take my take with a giant grain of salt, but I would be afraid it desensitizes people to violence or just traumatizes them, especially if they're kids. There's a reason you don't show the new Evil Dead movie with a zombie using a cheese grates people's eyes to children.

People, that means the kids parents, are not voting for horrific zombie enabling politicians, but it’s in their hands to stop supporting the war-hawks.

As an example, “The Terror of War” turned many people in America against the Vietnam war.

Maybe the existential horror, disgust and impotent rage building in the zeitgeist of American youth will make music good again.

It can be something relevant to seek out but wouldn't use the word desirable at all. It may improve judgement but hopefully serves better to improve humility and gratitude.

There definitely has been a level of war voyeurism on social media for the past several conflicts.

Gratuitously watching people die, I suspect, won’t really change anyone’s vote, or to volunteer, or donate. At least long term, because the violence usually is the attraction, not the conflict. And there will always be a new conflict.

A few key events in history have happened because of, lets say, acute exposure. But chronic exposure, to your point, possibly makes our judgement worse.

The benefit is if you show people what war is actually like, people will be more averse to it

archive/paywall: https://archive.is/KQrWs

Not a single mention of "Not interested" or blocking the page. This wouldn't be anywhere near the actual usage of the app.

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