Poes law stats that there is no way to know if a radical standpoint is an expression of a genuine belie, or irony in the absence of clear signifiers. Likewise would I argue that it today is impossible to determine if a volatile or radical editorial or article is written in good faith, or for the express purpose of being spread. I want to argue in this texts that there are discussions that are worth not having, opinions best not shared. In other words, in this strange game, its best not to play.
In this text I wish to discuss two forms of editorial texts, and why neither is worth engaging with. Both of these reneges has serious overlap, and the difficult in differentiating one from the other is part of the overall problem of engaging with this kind of material. My goal with this text is to argue for the old internet adage of not feeding the trolls, and instead focusing on boosting narratives you agree with.
The first kind of text is the one that holds a genuinely held belief, or expressly held beliefs. The second are written to profit of the first kind of text, written to be spread and so make money in the attention economy of the modern internet.
Foul beliefs, carelessly spread
These are assumedly written either to reach those that already agrees, or are open to be persuaded into such beliefs. These texts I aim to discuss often holds radically conservative, racist or bigoted views. Liberal and leftist writers and commentaries has traditionally tried to counter these arguments by commenting on, and arguing against them. If this is not done carefully will any spreading of this kind of material inevitably lead to it being shown to more people, and in the metric driven internet, this means even more preference in the algorithms.
I instead argue for an proactive rather then reactive approach, instead of commenting or “dunking” on radical conservatives, must we present our own narratives. Instead of sharing posts from racists uncles, share posts from creators and activists that work to further the causes you belie in. It is a fact of life that the mainstream internet is run by oligarchs, most if not all holding conservative beliefs and goals. It is therefore of utmost import hat we do not accidentally help the spread of radical conservative beliefs via the algorithms by pushing more views their way.
Rage bait slop, easy money, but not for you
The second form of text holds the same content most of the time, tough most likely more exaggerated. This form of content is solely meant to feed in division, anger and fear. Often using eye catching titles, images etc to draw your attention, if you click the link, the article has done its job, if you share it, even more so. The insincere tone is often easy to recognize once you learn how to spot it. And when you do, your job is done, and you can move on to something else, preferably after blocking and or reporting if that is an option.
These texts often contain logical fallacies, factual errors and deliberately aggressive and hateful rhetoric. The skill of recognizing rage bait is similar to the skill of recognizing scam messages. Scam messages are often written poorly, and sounds impossible to target those that have the largest risk of falling for the scam. In this way are the errors a deliberate part of the scam. In similar terms are these awful and clearly false facts part of the overall strategy to goat you into sharing their advertised slop even further.
What do we do?
The modern internet can often seem as a hateful, bitter and dangerous place, but it does not need to be. Trough education and sharing of resources can we help to educate the general public in internet media literacy. This starts with you dear reader, if you ever ask yourself “how can anyone belie this?” or “how can anyone be this stupid?” its most likely either deliberately written to make you angry, or written by someone you would not want to give more money to. This counts especially for large media companies and other corporations Remember that Bud light got thousands of dollars of free advertising from transphobies filming themselves shooting beers with machine guns.
It is difficult, and it will take time and work, but instead of sharing that link or post that comment, pause and consider the desired outcome for the poster. Just like a troll aims to make you angry, so does slop and rage material. Block, report and move on, focus on sharing what you live, and do your best to minimize the spread of what makes you angry.
Don’t feed the trolls, share joy, that’s the first step.
An Unused Frequency 