Social Media and the Violence Thing
September 11, 2018
I read “Can Facebook Really Drive Violence?” Interesting question for some. The write up states:
Recent reporting has probed the link between virtual hate and real world action. But the connection remains murky.
I recall a trick one of my professors at the one horse university I attended. She substituted other words in an assertion and then asked the same question, stood back, land let the logic of 18 year olds prevail. For instance:
Does the telephone drive teenage smoking?
Intriguing because substitution can reveal the tenuousness of human logic.
Set aside the collegiate penchant for rediscovering logical reasoning. A trend can become more obvious thanks to social media and fake news. With careful selection of facts and suppositions, it sure seems as if behavior can be organized and amplified when certain types of information flow. NBC News reported that “Social Media Rumors Trigger Violence in India; 3 Killed by Mobs.”
According to the story:
“Mobs of villagers killed at least three people and attacked several others after social media messages warned that gangs of kidnappers were roaming southern India in search of children, police said Friday.
And NBC added:
“Authorities said there was no indication that such gangs actually existed.”
This “event” caught the attention of some. The Indian Government has reached out to WhatsApp and demanded that they begin filtering out fake news stories. Google and Facebook have already begun attempting to police themselves. If the Indian government’s move to take control over fake news proves successful, expect to see other nations to follow suit and put stronger demands upon social media outlets.
Ah, perception. Information flow can have an impact, just not what some anticipate.
Stephen E Arnold, September 11, 2018
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