RE: Fighting Social Media Disinformtion16 May 2022 21:08
Mr T,
I'm not going to get into the rights and wrongs of Brexit, Trump, Ukraine, Covid etc. There is plenty of information out there from official and unofficial sources that lead to diverse opinions - and that is how it should be.
Clearly online bullying, harassment, paedophilic content etc needs to be policed - and it is currently. Good.
However plurality of opinion and free access to a wide variety of information and sources is the lifeblood of a healthy culture. You may believe things I disagree with but I absolutely defend your right to believe them and talk about them. We can then debate and the dialectic we have will enrich us both.
This dialetical approach is how science, politics, the arts and all other forms of human enterprise remain vigorous and healthy. No science is ever 'settled' and that is true for all other areas - to say otherwise is to descend into dogma - and that is the lifeblood of authoritarianism.
I am really concerned that a narrow orthodoxy is being foisted on us all - Orwell saw it and raised the alarm, others need to see it clearly now. The powers being taken currently may be in benign hands now, but that is no guarantee for the future.