• fsk@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    There are conspiracy theories on the Internet that Google and Facebook were created to centralize control of the Internet in a few large corporations, who then would be able to control what information people see. You also have to think bigger than government. Who has more influence? The President? Or the CEO of Blackrock and other large hedge funds, who control all the voting shares in pretty much every public corporation?

    For example, if you control the mainstream media and big tech, you can make an issue seem like a huge problem by overhyping it everywhere. You can cover up real problems by never mentioning them at all. The CEO of Google is NOT elected. A couple of hedge fund managers get to pick the CEO of Google.

    • NotYourSocialWorker@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Conspiracy theory it is. What has happened to the internet is much more easily explained by capitalism. This is what capitalism does.

      I bet that you don’t need to follow that conspiracy theory very far before you find someone spouting the old classical antisemitic bullshit.

      • fsk@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        On every conspiracy theory forum, there’s at least one person posting antisemitic stuff. It’s a standard trick to discredit them. I.e., person A posts a true conspiracy theory X. Person B posts the same conspiracy theory and also something antisemtic. Does that automatically mean X is wrong?

    • skillissuer@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      There are conspiracy theories on the Internet that Google and Facebook were created to centralize control of the Internet in a few large corporations, who then would be able to control what information people see

      that’s what capitalism can do, and they do that because it’s profitable for them. google seo pollution would run counter to that, right? somebody does that, because while clean access to public information provides no profit for them, putting their own noise there instead - from which they can profit in some way - makes them more money. wouldn’t The Powers That Be intervene if that was the grand strategy?

      i’m asking you to take a few steps back and look at a bigger picture. conspiracy theories are full of drivel, but their content is not the most important part. the most important thing about them is circlejerk forming property. if you wanted to investigate mysterious forces, then surely scientific method would be the best tool available, right? they aren’t using it not because it doesn’t work there, it’s because actually using scientific method involves taking frequent Ls and grants no points for your very own special ideas. if you cling to your own idea because it’s your own idea, and are proven wrong you can either: 1. take the L, see how much wrong you were and why, and adjust accordingly, or 2. happily ignore all contrary evidence and paint all your enemies as part of global conspiracy, or maybe repeat measurement, believing you got something wrong, until you get what you want.

      the most important thing about conspiracy theories is that it allows believer to feel Special, because they know something all the plebeian masses don’t and that makes them Enlightened, obviously better than anyone else and immune to all criticism. it’s highly corrosive to any critical thought and allows that pattern of thinking to spread from one issue to another. here you have this elaborated in detail by Folding Ideas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTfhYyTuT44