#463 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Thursday September 22)
Good morning,
HATE SPEECH ON-LINE
No sooner did I comment on the need for legal guard rails to be imposed on social media and the misinformation and hate that it propagates than Allison Gingold points me to some real action being taken here in California. It is Assembly Bill 587, authored by my friend Jesse Gabriel.
Assuming Governor Newsom signs the bill by September 30, social media platforms will have to disclose to the public their policies regarding controls on disinformation, hate speech, and harassment, together with metrics regarding the implementation of those policies.
We all know of the proliferation of hate speech and harassment, putting members of various minority communities at risk. We also know of the risk of “copycat” crimes, which concerns the Department of Homeland Security. And we know that vaccine misinformation (posted by remarkably few but highly effective spreaders of lies) has created a reluctance on the part of many, putting their health and the health of others at greater risk. These dangerous risks are enhanced and spread far and wide by social media, which currently is protected from accountability by federal statute.
It is said that the antidote to undesirable speech is more speech. We know that transparency of information is important. The more we can require social media platforms to be transparent in the source, veracity, and targeting of such speech, the better off we will be. And as for the silliness that “every voice deserves to be heard,” we would never expect that a theatre showing a movie would give access to the sound system in order to allow a patron to falsely scream “FIRE!” and watch people crushing each other racing toward the door.
Until we are able to control Facebook and others, outed as not only allowing the posting of hateful, false, conspiratorial content…but actually feeding it to people, unbeknownst to them, misinformation will affect our social polity.
FEEDING NEWS VERSUS MISINFORMATION
Here’s a reasonable question to ask: Since we know that social media platforms push posts in their feed, why can’t they push verified, edited news stories each time a suspected falsehood is posted?
WILLINGNESS TO LISTEN
Further to the question of information being shared, I wrote a while back that what is in short supply these days is a willingness to listen to ideas that may be different from our own—ideas that may be anathema to us. Mandy Lowell shared the words of Harvard President Bacow in his last convocation address to first year students, whom he urges to “be slow to judge and quick to understand.”
In pertinent part he says: “It is more than a motto. It is the reason we exist, to seek the truth. But truth needs to be tested and needs to be revealed and that can only happen on the anvil of competing ideas. If you really seek the truth, it’s important to engage with people who think differently from you. Even more importantly, you need to be willing to change your mind in the face of a better argument or new information. Only when you have this experience will you be well equipped to make a difference in the world.”
That it is necessary for a college president to remind young scholars of the need for an open mind and the interplay of ideas is indicative of the “I know what’s best” culture of our times. Not only does this stubbornness and unwillingness to consider alternate views permeate the ranks of established ideologues, but college professors face an angry, stubborn, self-assured cadre of youngsters, unwilling to listen but ready to condemn.
TALKING TO OUR ENEMIES
Finally, Mandy shares from The Economist:
“…talking is usually good. Some say that turning up bestows legitimacy. In reality, it generates insights, creates a chance to exert influence and helps solve otherwise insoluble problems—by means of climate deals, say; or getting grain out of Ukraine; or asking al-Shabab, an affiliate of al-Qaeda, to help save Somalis from starvation. Mr Biden was right to talk to MBS. Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, is right to talk to Mr Putin. Everyone needs to talk to China’s president, Xi Jinping.”
Have a good day,
Glenn
From the archives: