17 Comments
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Esme Fae's avatar

I'm glad Bluesky exists. When Mark Zuckerberg went on Joe Rogan and said "yeah, maybe we went a bit overboard with the censorship..." all of my most annoying Facebook friends gasped collectively, announced they were leaving his Nazi platform, and fled to Bluesky. It's made my Facebook feed much more pleasant.

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Ted Balaker's avatar

Ha, love it! " It's made my Facebook feed much more pleasant." Well, when you put it that way ...

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Jose's avatar

Trying to express nuanced ideas in 256 characters or fewer is a fool's errand; that is why inflammatory statements thrive, especially with algorithms specifically designed to create echo chambers. You have to get out of your way to look content that compare both positions of a topic in an honest manner, like Allsides.com or ProCon.org and similar.

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Ted Balaker's avatar

Yes, good point. And maybe that's why Substack stands a better chance of resisting insanity. Thanks for those links. I also find Straight Arrow News to be helpful.

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Margo Margan's avatar

I heard the exact same thing about autism - never bought into it, but back before I realized my autism diagnosis was made in error I felt very, very reduced down to nothing more than a label.

I don't actually worry all that much about getting canceled - at some point I'd better just get it over with - but I do worry learning to tune out all of this crying wolf about bigotry has made me prone to ignoring legitimate criticisms.

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Ted Balaker's avatar

Yes. Good point in your last line.

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Julie W.'s avatar

I'm glad woke happened. The Hollywood/Academia/Big Money mind persuasion we were suffering from has met a populace awakened and ready for critical thinking again. It makes them crazy to think they've lost the power to narrate life for everyone else.

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Ted Balaker's avatar

Ha -- interesting point, Julie! I'm so tired of working in an industry that's obsessed with wokeness, and I definitely hope you're right.

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Julie W.'s avatar

You have many supporters Ted. Some may not realize who/what they are supporting yet, but don't let that dissuade you from your calling. Bread & Circus for the masses has met its end. People crave the truth.

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Ted Balaker's avatar

Thanks so much, Julie. I really appreciate that. As you point out, some good can come from all the madness if it jolts people into paying attention.

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Erek Tinker's avatar

Stop trying to convince them to leave BlueSky.

Every social media platform is better now.

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Ted Balaker's avatar

Ha, love it. My bad. Now I'll get to work on my next essay, "Bluesky is where the most enlightened people hang out"

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Erek Tinker's avatar

That's the ticket!

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Nate Winchester's avatar

I need to watch your film, I just need to find the time.

By chance do you bring up or mention the "scar experiment" in it or did that happen after you had done your documentary?

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Ted Balaker's avatar

I hope you enjoy the film. It doesn't include the scar experiment. I hadn't hear of it, but after I looked it up, now I wish we'd included it! It's so on point.

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Nate Winchester's avatar

This one here, right?

https://youtube.com/shorts/V91kENu5hE8?feature=share

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232481827_Perceptions_of_the_impact_of_negatively_valued_characteristics_on_social_interaction

Yeah it popped into my mind as soon as you were talking about the poor autistic girl.

Don't fret though, at the rate things are going I'm sure you'll be able to do an expanded version soon - or maybe a sequel! ;)

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Ted Balaker's avatar

Ha, you might be right about that! And yes, that's the same study I was referring to. So fascinating.

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