White Nationalists on Twitter Have Grown 600 Percent Since 2012, Study Finds - Polidicks

[QUOTE=phaedon;51001284]Which far-left parties rose to power during that period, and how many new far-left parties entered national parliaments? I can only think of SYRIZA for the former, and Podemos for the latter.[/QUOTE] Podemos is not far left, it's more left-leaning than most parties, but they are definetly not far left. Can't talk about SYRIZA though, because I don't know much about the party.

[QUOTE=eirexe;51001899]Podemos is not far left, it's more left-leaning than most parties, but they are definetly not far left. Can't talk about SYRIZA though, because I don't know much about the party.[/QUOTE] Fair enough. SYRIZA (at least in theory) has similar political positions and leanings as Podemos, they are both part of the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_United_Left%E2%80%93Nordic_Green_Left]European United Left[/url].

Just to be clear for anyone who didn't actually read the article, the number only went from ~3,500 to ~22,000 people. It's also only talking about the number of followers for white supremacist groups on twitter. Saying it's "600%" is pretty disingenuous. I mean, it's true, but it's just trying to exaggerate a tiny minority of people. [editline]4th September 2016[/editline] I would love to see the number of feminists who use harassment on twitter and how much it's grown since 2012, but I highly doubt we would ever get a study on that.

[QUOTE=sgman91;51001960] I would love to see the number of feminists who use harassment on twitter and how much it's grown since 2012, but I highly doubt we would ever get a study on that.[/QUOTE] Harassing people on Twitter isn't a good thing to do but I don't think these are really comparable groups. Also if something is strictly true, how is it simultaneously an exaggeration :v:

[QUOTE=Raidyr;51001974]Harassing people on Twitter isn't a good thing to do but I don't think these are really comparable groups. Also if something is strictly true, how is it simultaneously an exaggeration :v:[/QUOTE] It's an exaggerated way of talking about it that is intended to cause alarm and clicks as opposed to seriously looking at the topic. 22,000 people who have followed some white supremacist accounts, across the entire world, is almost literally nothing. I'm sure we could find comparable numbers of people following black supremacist groups. It only seems like a big deal because, WOW, 600% is a lot!

[QUOTE=SirJon;51001083] There was a time where even on facepunch you'd get banned for saying "black" instead of afro-american.[/QUOTE] Don't remember this. [QUOTE=Doctor Zedacon;51001448]It was TH89 who did that. He's gone now.[/QUOTE] Unfortunately. [editline]4th September 2016[/editline] [QUOTE=sgman91;51001976]It's an exaggerated way of talking about it that is intended to cause alarm and clicks as opposed to seriously looking at the topic. 22,000 people who have followed some white supremacist accounts, across the entire world, is almost literally nothing. I'm sure we could find comparable numbers of people following black supremacist groups. It only seems like a big deal because, WOW, 600% is a lot![/QUOTE] I think the story is the increase in numbers more than the numbers themselves. Yeah you can probably find 22,000 people following some black supremacist accounts, but did those numbers increase by 600% in a short time as well? I just don't understand why you are so dogged about underplaying a story that is essentially just saying that white nationalists utilize social media to good effect.

[QUOTE=sgman91;51001976] It only seems like a big deal because, WOW, 600% is a lot![/QUOTE] Well for neo Nazis it kinda is a big growth with that particular ideology being as taboo as it is.

[QUOTE=greasemunky;51002015]Well for neo Nazis it kinda is a big growth with that particular ideology being as taboo as it is.[/QUOTE] i am not sure if it is so much an increase in the number of neo nazis, rather a rise in existing neo nazis using social media to discuss and organize

This is happening due to what I call the flashlight effect. To explain what I mean by this, I need to reference The Tea Party. When The tea party began, it was about libertarian ideals. Restoring the liberties mentioned in the bill of rights. That what I remember any ways. When leftist media outlets and persons of influence began to accuse them of being bigoted for not adhereing to the liberal world view, is when the real racists and bigots showed up and infesting the whole movement. The same thing is happening now with the elections and what not. Bunch of people disagree with leftists groups and politicians. Those persons of influence of leftist label them bigoted for not adhering to progressive values. Real racists begin to infest and wreck the persons or organizations that got labeled bigoted by leftists. Now Leftists have created monsters where before there were none.

[QUOTE=Raidyr;51002001]I think the story is the increase in numbers more than the numbers themselves. Yeah you can probably find 22,000 people following some black supremacist accounts, but did those numbers increase by 600% in a short time as well? I just don't understand why you are so dogged about underplaying a story that is essentially just saying that white nationalists utilize social media to good effect.[/QUOTE] I'm interested in clarifying it because people, in this very thread, are massively misinterpreting what was being said in the study. We have people comparing it to far right groups gaining power in Europe, people saying all these 22,000 are "self-labeled" white supremacists, etc. when none of that has anything to do with this study, at all.

600% in the last four years? How much has the Twitter user base increased since then? Has to be around the same or more. Not to mention bots.

[QUOTE=Blizzerd;51000383]If you make opposition impossible, opposition becomes inevitable. I dare claim this is an eventual result from twitters draconian speech policing... Once you disenfranchise the centrists, they and extremists will fraternise and the dividing lines tend to blend.[/QUOTE] Twitter didn't previously censor much compared to what they do now. The fact that it's grown 600% in 4 years [i]with Twitter's active removal of controversial content[/i] is incredibly disturbing. White nationalists didn't start using Twitter because Twitter was censoring them. They started using Twitter because Twitter is one of the biggest social media sites in the world - Twitter's ""speech policing"' is a [I]response[/I] to people literally going out and harassing people with racial slurs - not vice versa. I don't know how you can think that Twitter's censorship [i]caused[/i] white nationalism to grow on Twitter. It's [I]very obviously[/I] a response to it.

[QUOTE=KillRay;51001187]was there[/QUOTE] Pff, ive been banned here numerous times for not capitalizing and punctuating correctly... get on my level. [highlight](User was banned for this post ("Incorrect capitalization and punctuation on the word "I've"" - Big Dumb American))[/highlight]

[QUOTE=SirJon;51001083]There was a time where even on facepunch you'd get banned for saying "black" instead of afro-american.[/QUOTE]At no time on Facepunch was that the case; i'd have gotten banned quite a bit back in the day if it were true.

[QUOTE=.Isak.;51002985]Twitter didn't previously censor much compared to what they do now. The fact that it's grown 600% in 4 years [I]with Twitter's active removal of controversial content[/I] is incredibly disturbing. White nationalists didn't start using Twitter because Twitter was censoring them. They started using Twitter because Twitter is one of the biggest social media sites in the world - Twitter's ""speech policing"' is a [I]response[/I] to people literally going out and harassing people with racial slurs - not vice versa. I don't know how you can think that Twitter's censorship [I]caused[/I] white nationalism to grow on Twitter. It's [I]very obviously[/I] a response to it.[/QUOTE] No, and heres why. If you start cracking down on people, even if justified you turn them into victims, especially if you draconically crack down and group centrist right with neonazi's. You are effectively taking the neonazis out of their fringe and putting them in the same box as respectable rightist opinions. Validating what they say through 'see, the left is taking over!!!!' This has been going on for FAR longer then you say it is. But indeed in the last 4 years its gotten pretty serious. IMO the only solution is to allow everything to be said as long as its said respectfully and in the rules of conversation, let the vileness run free and it will start moderating itself. Thats how human psyche works... you would be taking away the reason and the drive for the vast majority of normal bread and butter people that alliance themselves with neo nazi groups just because they are not allowed to say that they for example 'rather not have the migrants come to their town, since it might cost a lot of money to settle them in' or some other pretty plain center right opinion. (yes, at times shit like that gets you banned in broad sweep bans on twitter) Twitter is causing the reason for their own demise.

[QUOTE=SirJon;51001083]There was a time where even on facepunch you'd get banned for saying "black" instead of afro-american.[/QUOTE] no you didn't don't make things up silly

[QUOTE=Guriosity;51002498]This is happening due to what I call the flashlight effect. To explain what I mean by this, I need to reference The Tea Party. When The tea party began, it was about libertarian ideals. Restoring the liberties mentioned in the bill of rights. That what I remember any ways. When leftist media outlets and persons of influence began to accuse them of being bigoted for not adhereing to the liberal world view, is when the real racists and bigots showed up and infesting the whole movement. The same thing is happening now with the elections and what not. Bunch of people disagree with leftists groups and politicians. Those persons of influence of leftist label them bigoted for not adhering to progressive values. Real racists begin to infest and wreck the persons or organizations that got labeled bigoted by leftists. Now Leftists have created monsters where before there were none.[/QUOTE] Ahh yes the blame everything on the left because the Tea Party totally wasn't a racist, ultra religious shitfest from day one. Sorry but if your reaction to not getting your way or whatever is to go into white supremacist mode, the only person with a problem is you.

[QUOTE=greasemunky;51003109]Ahh yes the blame everything on the left because the Tea Party totally wasn't a racist, ultra religious shitfest from day one. Sorry but if your reaction to not getting your way or whatever is to go into white supremacist mode, the only person with a problem is you.[/QUOTE] You dont understand what he said, also no, the tea party was not ultra racist from day one even if msm claims it was like that since its an easier narrative to sell. Try to read his comment again and really understand it.

[QUOTE=greasemunky;51003109]Ahh yes the blame everything on the left because the Tea Party totally wasn't a racist, ultra religious shitfest from day one. Sorry but if your reaction to not getting your way or whatever is to go into white supremacist mode, the only person with a problem is you.[/QUOTE] Think about it this way, if you go to far-left forums and news outlets they usually go on about all the evil things the 'baby-eating-Donald-Trump-supporting-white-supremacist-neo-nazis' are doing and if you go to the far/alt-right forums and news outlets they're usually going on about all the evil things the 'SJWs' or 'The Left' are doing. Obviously there are a small number of people on both sides who get picked out and made an example of, but it's an example of a snake eating its own tail where extremists from one side are used to advocate extremism on the other side and vice versa. For every 'white-supremacist-neo-nazi-donald-trump-supporter' you get another 'SJW' and for every 'SJW' you get another 'white-supremacist-neo-nazi-donald-trump-supporter' and the debate becomes more heated, more lines are drawn in the sand, individuals are further dehumanised, there is even less room for nuance and things become more partisan. It's both 'sides' that are at fault here, but in reality there are no 'sides', just shitty people. You have a choice to either go along with the media spin and continue to be manipulated or to identify yourself as an individual independent of the identity politics that rules today's political zeitgeist.

[QUOTE=greasemunky;51003109]Ahh yes the blame everything on the left because the Tea Party totally wasn't a racist, ultra religious shitfest from day one. Sorry but if your reaction to not getting your way or whatever is to go into white supremacist mode, the only person with a problem is you.[/QUOTE] Did you know when Hillary began pointing fingers at the alt right to shut dissents up is when the numbers of the alt right went up? Many alt righters (read full blown bigots) were very happy when she mentioned them. I dont blame every thing on the left. I say there has become a tendency for the left to rely on the accusation of any one who disagrees with them being full of hatred, bigoted and racist a little TOOO much and too often to shut people up. I am saying it starting to back fire and badly so. For your information, I am not of the right. Your assumption any one who is not of your persuasion must be of the evil evil thing you oppose is a fallacy. Maybe I am a guy who believe the old Aztec religion should be resurrected, human sacrifice should be reinstated and that would be the only way forward? Where would that fall within your left right spectrum? Realize there is a whole host of ideas out there that do not or cannot be classified by your false dichotomy.

[QUOTE=Guriosity;51003181]Did you know when Hillary began pointing fingers at the alt right to shut dissents up is when the numbers of the alt right went up? Many alt righters (read full blown bigots) were very happy when she mentioned them. I dont blame every thing on the left. I say there has become a tendency for the left to rely on the accusation of any one who disagrees with them being full of hatred, bigoted and racist a little TOOO much and too often. I am saying it starting to back fire and badly so. For your information, I am not of the right. Your assumption any one who is not of your persuasion must be of the evil evil thing you oppose is a fallacy.[/QUOTE] Perhaps the reason people like greasemunky assume you're aligned with 'the right' is that you refer to 'the left' as some big monolithic entity, which seems to imply that you operate on the left-right spectrum and that since you're not on 'the left' you must be on 'the right'. It's not good to generalize people either way, regardless of where they sit on an arbitrary political line. To be clear, I'm saying it's not good to use 'The Left' or 'The Right' when referring to groups of people. They're vague terms prone to stereotyping anyone who isn't 'Left' or 'Right'.

[QUOTE=Zyler;51003265]Perhaps the reason people like greasemunky assume you're aligned with 'the right' is that you refer to 'the left' as some big monolithic entity, which seems to imply that you operate on the left-right spectrum and that since you're not on 'the left' you must be on 'the right'. It's not good to generalize people either way, regardless of where they sit on an arbitrary political line. To be clear, I'm saying it's not good to use 'The Left' or 'The Right' when referring to groups of people. They're vague terms prone to stereotyping anyone who isn't 'Left' or 'Right'.[/QUOTE] The left is a big tent of ideas. Im not going list all of them every time I post. That would be tiring. Once again just because someone says "The Left" does not mean they adhere to the right. That is a fallacy. I used "The Left" because thats the established label and the one people understand. The point is one reason for this increase is maybe due to the left's tendency to demonize any one who doesn't agree with them or bend to their collective will. They ve been doing this so much and so often it starting to create demons.

[QUOTE=Guriosity;51003275] The point is one reason for this increase is maybe due to the left's tendency to demonize any one who doesn't agree with them or bend to their collective will. They ve been doing this so much and so often it starting to create demons.[/QUOTE] You're stating this as if it's only 'The Left' who demonizes people they disagree with? Does noone else ever generalize or demonize people they disagree with? Who is 'The Left'? You're generalizing people you disagree with, right now. Is it possible that you're demonizing people who you disagree with?

Just ignore them and they will go away.

[QUOTE=Guriosity;51002498]This is happening due to what I call the flashlight effect. To explain what I mean by this, I need to reference The Tea Party. When The tea party began, it was about libertarian ideals. Restoring the liberties mentioned in the bill of rights. That what I remember any ways. When leftist media outlets and persons of influence began to accuse them of being bigoted for not adhereing to the liberal world view, is when the real racists and bigots showed up and infesting the whole movement. The same thing is happening now with the elections and what not. Bunch of people disagree with leftists groups and politicians. Those persons of influence of leftist label them bigoted for not adhering to progressive values. Real racists begin to infest and wreck the persons or organizations that got labeled bigoted by leftists. Now Leftists have created monsters where before there were none.[/QUOTE] I think it's a pretty enormous act of mental gymnastics to blame the fact that the right wing has a serious problem with xenophobia/racism/etc on the [I]left wing [/I] not to mention the fact that you're blaming the acts of individuals on entire political sectors

its made me stop using twitter entirely cuz they seem to just infest the video game part of twitter with their inane horseshit

[QUOTE=Cloak Raider;51003307]I think it's a pretty enormous act of mental gymnastics to blame the fact that the right wing has a serious problem with xenophobia/racism/etc on the [I]left wing [/I] [U][B][I]not to mention the fact that you're blaming the acts of individuals on entire political sectors[/I][/B][/U][/QUOTE] I am going to quote Zyler and leave it at that. [QUOTE]Think about it this way, if you go to far-left forums and news outlets they usually go on about all the evil things the 'baby-eating-Donald-Trump-supporting-white-supremacist-neo-nazis' are doing and if you go to the far/alt-right forums and news outlets they're usually going on about all the evil things the 'SJWs' or 'The Left' are doing. Obviously there are a small number of people on both sides who get picked out and made an example of, but it's an example of a snake eating its own tail where extremists from one side are used to advocate extremism on the other side and vice versa. For every 'white-supremacist-neo-nazi-donald-trump-supporter' you get another 'SJW' and for every 'SJW' you get another 'white-supremacist-neo-nazi-donald-trump-supporter' and the debate becomes more heated, more lines are drawn in the sand, individuals are further dehumanised, there is even less room for nuance and things become more partisan. It's both 'sides' that are at fault here, but in reality there are no 'sides', just shitty people.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Zyler;51003295]You're stating this as if it's only 'The Left' who demonizes people they disagree with? Does noone else ever generalize or demonize people they disagree with? Who is 'The Left'? You're generalizing people you disagree with, right now. Is it possible that you're demonizing people who you disagree with?[/QUOTE] Im a socialist, yet i talk about 'the left' naming a vague group of people by a vague container like 'the left' is useful. nobody said that only 'the left' does this, but 'the left' is responsible for the rise of the alt right... the alt right has done enough to shoot themselves in the foot, its only the left and especially center left demonising center right as if they were nazis that singlehandedly built the foundation for the rise of center right, the alt right, and the extreme right. [editline]5th September 2016[/editline] [QUOTE=Tetsmega;51003298]Just ignore them and they will go away.[/QUOTE] No, call out people but respect them for who they are... go into debate, dont wave away their opinion calling them nazis or trolls. let them explain their position and argument it. stupid ideas are like roaches, if you cover them up they will start breeding vilently... you need to hold them to the light to finish em off.

People don't become neo-Nazis because evil SJWs are mean to conservatives. Like how hard do you guys have to stretch to seriously try and blame racism on leftists.

[QUOTE=TheBloodyNine;51003391]People don't become neo-Nazis because evil SJWs are mean to conservatives. Like how hard do you guys have to stretch to seriously try and blame racism on leftists.[/QUOTE] Eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. What one does affects the other.