bhull242 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Researchers Confirm: Content Moderation Appears To Target Dangerous Nonsense, Not Political Ideology

    bhull242 ( profile ), 05 Oct, 2024 @ 05:02pm

    The article rides on the high horse that there is a difference between “we are moderating bullshit” and “we are moderating political viewpoints”. That is a meaningless distinction if one political viewpoint integrates bullshit as a defining and accepted manner of political discourse (cf JD Vance stating that it is ok to continue spreading things you know to be bullshit about Haitians eating pets as long as you get press for it).
    It might be a meaningless distinction in terms of outcome, but it isn’t meaningless in terms of methodology, and methodology is what matters. Also, the article itself actually agrees with you on the Republican Party.
    So stop claiming that moderation in favor of reality and the truth isn’t political.
    In terms of motivation, it isn’t.

  • On the post: Researchers Confirm: Content Moderation Appears To Target Dangerous Nonsense, Not Political Ideology

    bhull242 ( profile ), 05 Oct, 2024 @ 04:57pm

    Even accepting this as true, it’s worth noting that the “you” in this case was in one case bipartisan and in another entirely Republican, yet they both consistently found more misinformation coming from Republicans than Democrats. In other words, more information which a group of Republicans disagreed with was being posted by right-leaning accounts than left-leaning accounts, and more information which a bipartisan group agreed was wrong was being posted by right-leaning accounts than left-leaning ones. So yeah, even given a bipartisan or favorably biased definition of “misinformation”, the right is still posting more misinformation than the left. Therefore, we can reasonably conclude that the reason for the disparity in bans has little or nothing to do with any bias on the part of those who decide what is or isn’t misinformation, meaning any problems with the definition aren’t really the issue here.

  • On the post: Researchers Confirm: Content Moderation Appears To Target Dangerous Nonsense, Not Political Ideology

    bhull242 ( profile ), 05 Oct, 2024 @ 04:46pm

    That doesn’t follow. It only shows that some researchers are willing to fake their research. It doesn’t mean that researchers in general are particularly likely to do so, or that those who do are particularly unlikely to not be caught prior to publication. Unless you can provide reasons specific to this research that suggests a stronger likelihood of it being faked compared to most research, this has no bearing on the article at hand. And given that this is just one of many studies coming to a similar conclusion with very few that come to the opposite conclusion (and those few having clear problems with methodology), it’s less likely that this one in particular is fake.

  • On the post: The Swiss Govt. Largely Gives Up On Its ‘Gruyere’ PDO/PGI Attempts

    bhull242 ( profile ), 05 Oct, 2024 @ 04:39pm

    Other present-day Muslims are not subjugating women and aren’t savages (indeed, a majority are not savages), and there are present-day Christians who are women-subjugating savages. That there are some present-day Muslims who are women-subjugating savages doesn’t mean that all or most of them are, nor are such people exclusive to Islam. Singling out Muslims like this and painting all Muslims with the same brush like this is fallacious and bigotry. Indeed, of the people who seek asylum from oppressive Muslim countries, it seems likely that most of them are victims of the women-subjugation and savagery you’re complaining of and so are particularly unlikely to be women-subjugating savages or to inflict such on others. As such, that wouldn’t really be a valid reason to exclude refugees from Muslim-majority countries or Islamic countries. And, of course, this is all still irrelevant to the article. Why did you bring up Muslims to begin with? Like, some of the legal immigrants from neighboring countries are also Muslims.

  • On the post: The Swiss Govt. Largely Gives Up On Its ‘Gruyere’ PDO/PGI Attempts

    bhull242 ( profile ), 05 Oct, 2024 @ 04:27pm

    I was doing a bit of casual reading and, iirc, many of the legal immigrants in Switzerland are from neighbouring countries like Germany, Italy and France.
    That’s true of most countries in the world that don’t have closed borders, especially if they’re landlocked. The main exception I can think of is Israel, due to the relatively recent history of violence between Israel and its neighbors. I don’t think you can really conclude anything from this fact.
    I wonder how much of Swiss resistance to infection by fake asylum seekers is unwillingness to bend the knee to barbarian cultures.
    I don’t think that Switzerland is particularly resistant to asylum seekers, fake or otherwise. As I said, that most legal immigration comes from neighboring countries is true of most countries, especially landlocked ones, so other countries also have a majority of their legal immigration coming from neighboring countries. To the extent it may have fewer legal immigrants from other nations, it could easily be attributed to being physically smaller compared to other countries (thus having less room for immigrants in general), not being a super-massive tourist hotspot like, say, Italy or France, and not having as high demand for additional immigration for the reason mentioned by Kaleberg. As for an unwillingness to “bend the knees to barbarian cultures”, setting aside the obvious racism in calling them barbarian cultures in the first place, granting asylum to refugees from certain countries isn’t “bending the knees” to the culture of those refugees or the nations they came from. And I have no idea what you mean by “fake asylum seekers”. Finally, none of this explains the relevance your question has to the article.

  • On the post: No ABC Did Not Engage In Election Interference In [Checks Notes] Fact Checking Donald Trump

    bhull242 ( profile ), 17 Sep, 2024 @ 04:27pm

    You do know that they had agreed that fact-checking would be done at the debate, right?

    The fact checking didn’t exist for Harris,
    That just means she lied less egregiously, to the extent she had lied at all. Many of Trump’s lies weren’t fact-checked either.
    such as when she made the claim about the US troops in war zones.
    It’s a true statement, so it’s not a lie. It may be missing some context, but “missing context” is not as egregious as “patently false by any sane metric”.
    They also let Kamala use a notepad with notes even though they said it was against the rules.
    No, they said that pre-written notes couldn’t be brought in. The notepad was blank before, and Kamala was allowed to take notes during the debate.

  • On the post: No ABC Did Not Engage In Election Interference In [Checks Notes] Fact Checking Donald Trump

    bhull242 ( profile ), 17 Sep, 2024 @ 04:21pm

    The moderators “fact checked” Trump several times when what he was said was TRUE (including the abortion thing, he was giving a direct Northam quote)
    False.
    and declined to correct Harris even when she told several whoppers that are absolutely proven untrue (“bloodbath”, “the fine people both sides” hoax, and worst of all the idea that we have no troops in war zones, some have died due to enemy fire quite recently in fact)
    The first two things are actually both true statements, just lacking in context. As for the third, if there are any, I’m unaware of them. We don’t have any in Gaza, Israel, Ukraine, or Russia. They also did fact-check one of Harris’s statements.
    I’d argue Harris lied much more often and certainly far more egregiously than Trump did…
    She did not. She lied less and far less egregiously.
    but you’re just too much of a partisan hack to realize that.
    Says the partisan hack.
    In any case, Cruz is just copying the same statist bullying Garland regularly supports.
    [citation needed]

  • On the post: Twitter’s Pre-Musk Plans Mirrored Elon’s Vision—Until He Abandoned, Trashed Or Ignored Them

    bhull242 ( profile ), 17 Sep, 2024 @ 03:55pm

    Twitter banned the Babylon Bee, a satire site.
    That doesn’t prove there was a political agenda. Sometimes people think satire goes too far. That you don’t like it doesn’t make it political.
    There was a segment on the Colbert show a few weeks ago, during an interview with CN anchor Kaitlan Collins, when Colbert tried describing CN as non-partisan. That’s you right now. You lack self-awareness, and the normies are laughing.
    You aren’t a normie. That’s just your cognitive bias. In reality, you’re weird. Also, normies aren’t exactly always right. They’re often demonstrably wrong.

  • On the post: Drag Performers Collect $100k Settlement From NH State Rep Who Smeared Them As Sex Offenders

    bhull242 ( profile ), 06 Sep, 2024 @ 02:24pm

    Calling them perverts, however, is protected speech.
    Sure. This guy just went way too far.
    Drag shows are fine, but they don’t belong in school. Way too sexualized.
    1. A lot of drag shows aren’t sexualized at all. You do know that not all of them involve stripping or close proximity with the audience, right? They aren’t all sex workers and strippers. Some are no different from the Monty Python skits or stuff from a Looney Toons episode (minus the cartoon violence).
    2. Not even the drag book readings are happening in schools, let alone any actually sexual drag shows. The drag book readings are happening in public libraries, not in schools. As such, there’s nothing to be concerned about here on that front.

  • On the post: Elon Musk Wins An Actual First Amendment Fight, Blocks Bad California Transparency Law

    bhull242 ( profile ), 06 Sep, 2024 @ 02:07pm

    Because you’re a Democratic Party operative […]
    No, he isn’t.
    […] and an agent of Bluesky.
    Even assuming that’s true, that’s actually a good reason for him to agree with Musk on this. A victory for Musk here helps other social media companies, too.

  • On the post: Elon’s Standoff With Brazil Reveals Hypocrisy & Overreach By Both Sides

    bhull242 ( profile ), 01 Sep, 2024 @ 03:33pm

    There’s a lot of stuff that’s banned from being directly posted on social media, but those same platforms generally don’t prohibit linking to anything that isn’t illegal.
    I don’t see how that contradicts what Stephen said.

  • On the post: Elon’s Standoff With Brazil Reveals Hypocrisy & Overreach By Both Sides

    bhull242 ( profile ), 01 Sep, 2024 @ 03:32pm

    Yeah, but that’s not exactly comparable to ExTwitter or Facebook.

  • On the post: Elon’s Standoff With Brazil Reveals Hypocrisy & Overreach By Both Sides

    bhull242 ( profile ), 01 Sep, 2024 @ 03:29pm

    Some of us have a fucking spine.
    Yeah, but some of us are pragmatic about this. I’m not happy about it, but a few of us leaving isn’t going to change anything, and most of us won’t leave without a viable alternative that isn’t super antagonistic against us.
    Yeah, sorry your preferred thing isn’t convenient unless you associate with Nazis.
    I’m not sorry that you are unwilling to accept the actual problems we face. You think this is about convenience? No, it’s about not leaving the frying pan and entering the fire, and about wanting a plan.
    Life isn’t fair.
    We know. That’s the point we’re making. Sometimes, life isn’t as simple as you make it out to be.
    Figure it the fuck out.
    We’re trying. And, frankly, if you don’t have any ideas of your own to contribute, kindly butt out.

  • On the post: Elon’s Standoff With Brazil Reveals Hypocrisy & Overreach By Both Sides

    bhull242 ( profile ), 01 Sep, 2024 @ 03:22pm

    You’re literally arguing that some twat posting a video is more important than abandoning a platform that boosts Nazis and lies.
    It’s not just “some twat”; it’s dozens of content creators and associated companies, along with fans. And it’s not their videos that we go to ExTwitter for; videos are almost entirely on YouTube and/or Twitch. ExTwitter is mostly text and images. And yeah, I’m not willing to completely abandon a massive—but niche—community just to protest some assholes. Especially since this community is the only reason I ever used ExTwitter in the first place (besides, like, for bonuses in Angry Birds and stuff), so the vast majority of the value I place on the platform comes from that community.
    I guess the world is already lost. Well done.. slow clap
    You’re being overly dramatic. The world isn’t going to end just because ExTwitter is becoming a Nazi bar and the VTuber community and fanbase aren’t yet willing to abandon ship.

  • On the post: Elon’s Standoff With Brazil Reveals Hypocrisy & Overreach By Both Sides

    bhull242 ( profile ), 29 Aug, 2024 @ 04:59pm

    I just came here to see if you’d acknowledge Zuckerberg admitting that the FBI and CDC very much pressured FB to remove content they didn’t want to remove, but no, of course you haven’t.
    Then what are you doing on this article? That was addressed in a separate article released prior to this one.
    And pro tip, little law lesson for you: SCOTUS did not rule in favor of Biden in Murthy, it said that the states’ AGs did not have standing, which is a completely different thing.
    It isn’t, actually. You just don’t understand it.
    Yeah, I saw your article lying about that.
    The article explicitly said that it ruled on standing, so it would appear the liar here is you.

  • On the post: Elon’s Standoff With Brazil Reveals Hypocrisy & Overreach By Both Sides

    bhull242 ( profile ), 29 Aug, 2024 @ 04:52pm

    We would love to, but we need somewhere to walk to first. Most of the more viable alternatives are hostile to anime and anime-adjacent fanbases, and either we or the major agencies would have to come to a consensus on where else to go to convince them to leave the platform, which isn’t easy.

  • On the post: Elon’s Standoff With Brazil Reveals Hypocrisy & Overreach By Both Sides

    bhull242 ( profile ), 29 Aug, 2024 @ 04:47pm

    Again, no one is saying otherwise. However, having a social media presence with lots of users is necessary for Vtubers, so they can’t leave the platform unless and until a viable alternative comes up. Simply saying “Don’t use ExTwitter” without a viable alternative isn’t helpful.

  • On the post: Oklahoma Gov’t Revokes License Of Teacher Who Dared To Push Back Against State’s Censors

    bhull242 ( profile ), 28 Aug, 2024 @ 10:57am

    Consequences! Consequences for speech! I’ve read that on these pages dozens of times. More, probably.
    Yeah, government-imposed consequences are exactly what the 1A is meant to protect against. Social or corporate consequences are an entirely different matter.
    Professors fired and demoted for their speech? Savage Twitter mobs hounding people and their bosses?
    The former is only even possibly a 1A violation if the university is a public university. The latter, while not morally acceptable, is mostly protected by the 1A.
    Go go go with their well-deserved consequences, says Techdirt and the gleefully self-righteous +1 commentariat. But not now, not for this person. This person, well, is different, somehow. Deserves protection, qualifies for martyr status, and is a shining exhibit of The Evil that men do.
    It really has nothing to do with the person being censored. Again, who is imposing the consequences matters. That said, being censored for speaking out against censorship is a notable distinction.

  • On the post: Oklahoma Gov’t Revokes License Of Teacher Who Dared To Push Back Against State’s Censors

    bhull242 ( profile ), 28 Aug, 2024 @ 10:48am

    Suuuure you would. 🙄

  • On the post: Oklahoma Gov’t Revokes License Of Teacher Who Dared To Push Back Against State’s Censors

    bhull242 ( profile ), 28 Aug, 2024 @ 10:46am

    Not this “why haven’t you covered this other, unrelated story yet” again…

    Yeah, you really should have waited just a little bit, since this site has now written an article on that. How many times have I had to tell you, “Just because they haven’t done an article on the topic yet doesn’t meant there won’t be an article on it later”? You seriously have zero patience.

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