SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the molding-public-opinion-or-providing-balance? dept.
The BBC reports:
Intervention by police within the first 24 hours of a terrorist event could be key to halting the spread of cyber-hate, a new study has found.
Cardiff University researchers found online hate in the aftermath of the murder of Lee Rigby peaked in the first 24 hours then declined sharply.
The research is being published in the British Journal of Criminology on the second anniversary of his murder near Woolwich Barracks in London.
They found tweets from police and media were about five times more likely to be retweeted compared with tweets from other users following the attack.
[...] During the study, social and computer scientists at the university focused on the production and spread of racial and religious cyberhate and the Twitter battle between police and far-right political groups in the first 36 hours following the attack.
[...] Dr Matthew Williams said: "We concluded that cyber-hate has a 'half-life' following crime events of national interest.
"The sharp de-escalation of hate can be explained by post-event media and police Twitter messages that have a defusing effect and counter-speech from everyday Twitter users that challenge abusers."
Dr Pete Burnap said: "The ability to observe a large portion of the population in near real-time via social media networks provides those responsible for ensuring the safety of the public a new window onto mass social reaction."
(Score: 5, Insightful) by turgid on Monday May 25 2015, @12:05PM
Brainwashing and propaganda work well. Want to see the OTHER side of that coin? You'll have to enter a madrassa, to hear the teachers instilling hatred of the west in their students. Either that, or the mosque, where the Imams are lecturing about how evil the western devils are.
Two wrongs don't make a right (but three lefts do).
Boot all those Muslims out of Europe. Do it quickly, before they breed past the flash point. Do it quickly, or Europe will no longer be European. That isn't "cyberhate", that is just good common sense.
I'd like to think that we in the West are bigger than that.
We should welcome and respect all of our fellow human beings. Granted, there is an acute problem of brainwashed murderers on the rampage, trying to take over countries and subjugate their enemies.
Fighting, in the long term, will not work. In the short term, all it can do is to contain the advance and maybe protect some of the vulnerable innocents.
There will only be a solution when people can talk, learn and explore openly without the fear of violence. The first thing that needs to go is the political correctness that states that religion should be automatically respected above reason and rationality.
Secondly, we need to enforce freedom of religion and freedom FROM religion, so that people otherwise subjugated and oppressed have the opportunity to be free, should they wish.
Thirdly, children should not be educated in religiously-affiliated schools. That means that, up to the age of 18 they should have a well-rounded secular reason and evidence-based education (and I mean an education i.e. with critical thinking skills and all). Any religious instruction should be the responsibility of the families and done outside of school time.
Fourthly, all advanced countries should strictly separate Church and State. I'm afraid for us limeys that means disestablishing the Church of England/Scotland and removing from the Monarch's remit the title of "Defender of the Faith" if indeed, we are not to have an elected head of state.
Fifthly, I'd also argue that religious organisations should have no special tax status i.e. they should have to pay the same taxes as everyone else. And they can get rid of chancel [wikipedia.org] while they're at it.
Finally, and very importantly, I'd like to make it illegal to remove arbitrary body parts from infants and older children in the name of religion It should only be done on medical grounds, not superstition. If the child wants to be modified at the age of 18 years, that should be their decision. And lets not kill animals in a painful and distressing way either.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday May 25 2015, @01:05PM
I wholeheartedly second that: the taste of the bacon of a sacrificed under stress animal simply doesn't taste that good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by turgid on Monday May 25 2015, @07:50PM
Amen brother.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].