SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the twitter-is-known-for-being-a-place-of-kindness-and-intelligence dept.
El Reg reports in a story that at least some people seem to think so.
Twitter trolls are undermining what political analysts had predicted would be a new form of responsive democracy.
Far from being an opportunity to engage directly with voters, researchers found that the more politicians tried to actively interact with their constituents, the more abuse they faced.
The eggheads, based in Europe and the US, analyzed just under 800,000 tweets from over 650 politicians based in Germany, Greece, Spain and the UK and found that the percentage of "impolite" tweets directed at them went from 8 per cent when they did nothing to an extraordinary 40 per cent when they actively tried to engage with voters.
If that wasn't depressing enough, the paper notes that the level of abuse increases almost exactly proportionally to how engaging people's messages are. The more they asked to hear people's views, the more those views were insulting.
"Most politicians who post anything quickly become subject to constant personal abuse," the paper, published in the Journal of Communication, notes.
Such is the level of unpleasantness and vehemence that most politicians simply give up and use their Twitter accounts to simply broadcast messages rather than seek input or discussion. Something that, ironically, has led to them being criticized for ignoring voters and not being sufficiently open or engaging.
My take: The egg heads may be right on this, however there is nothing inherently undemocratic in people publishing libelous and slanderous crap about politicians. It's been happening in American democracy for at least as long as the republic has been in existence. Some of the things said about Thomas Jefferson when he was running for president were worse than what we were subjected to during this election cycle.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bradley13 on Monday November 14 2016, @10:46AM
I have to disagree: those are two entirely separate problems. Many government offices work just fine. Some don't, perhaps due to poor supervision. Complain about the ones that treat you badly.
The reason politicians get abuse when they try to interact with the public? That is a combination of two factors:
- First, the extreme polarization in the current political climate: if someone holds a different viewpopint, they are not only wrong, they are evil.
- Second, the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory [knowyourmeme.com], i.e., anonymity in the Internet
I do believe that this will sort itself out, as society adapts to social media. However, it may take a generation.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 14 2016, @05:33PM
- Second, the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory, i.e., anonymity in the Internet
There have been some social 'science' studies that found no such correlation, and I think one of them was talked about on SN. Many of the "trolls" aren't anonymous at all.
I do believe that this will sort itself out, as society adapts to social media.
Rather than adapting to social media, social media should simply die off completely; it's toxic to people's minds, their privacy, as well as being toxic to the privacy of non-useds.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by jmorris on Monday November 14 2016, @05:51PM
First, the extreme polarization in the current political climate: if someone holds a different viewpopint, they are not only wrong, they are evil.
Which is of course the correct view of our current situation. Sadly. It means civil war is probably the only way out unless Federalism makes an unexpected comeback. Lets hope Mr. Trump figures that out; we will know he has succeeded when real estate prices in D.C. crash.
How can each side see the other as evil? Moral relativism. The Progressives invented the concept so they could redefine what good and evil are. Because all traditional codes of morality hold that what Progressives believe is evil they needed a way to tell their followers they could ignore all that and use the Progressive code, which says they are good and we are all evil and therefore must be exterminated. And around the world, exterminate they have; the body count of Progress (in all flavors) exceeded a hundred million in the 20th Century and if not stopped will beat that record in the 21st.
Have the courage to look into the heart of the darkness and see. Since most are at least passing familiar with it I often drag out "God's Ultimate Listicle" as a point of reference but it works almost as well against ANY pre Marx moral code. Google up the Ten Commandments and work down the list, rating each against the Progressive / Democratic Party position thus:
-2 Holds that violations of the rule are in reality a virtue
-1 Disagree with this rule
0 Neutral vs this rule
1 Hold that the rule is an acceptable idea
2 Includes this rule in their own Code
You will get a score ranging from -20 to 20. 20 would make them Jews or Christians, a number near zero would mean their moral code is random vs it, which would match their stated position as godless heathens. But the truth is far worse, if you score it honest you get a score pretty close to a perfect -20 which happens to be the position of an old and very well known faction.
You don't have to be a Muslim to understand why they hate us. You don't have to be a Christian to understand what they believe either. And you don't have to be Christian or Satanic to see the plain reality of what the Democratic Party is, to realize what their religion actually is. Many of the rank and file of course do NOT realize any of this. Which is expected when serving the Father of Lies. But the leadership most certainly DO understand and until they are driven out of the public square political stability will prove impossible to maintain.