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Psychology of Extremism (Psychological Processes of Radicalization and…
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Policy, Censorship and Other Solutions #
Recent mass shootings by white nationalists have forced the U.S. government to start addressing this problem. We’re going to need a much better understanding and more research into these dangerous cultures if we are to make wise policy decisions to quell them, lest we instead pour oil on the fire.
The United States government and other organizations keep a watch on hate groups and their activities.
Free speech is highly valued in this country, but it does have limits. There is a lot of ongoing controversy about what those limitations should be and whether they should extend to the internet.
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Existing regulations for online communication and organization, including limits on domestic surveillance.
What does policy and legislative process look like for dealing with domestic terrorism and for extremist organizations?
Facts and falsehoods are policed differently in marketing, the media, public discourse, and online.
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Legislation can hardly keep up with the new dangers and harms offered up every day both by specific websites and the structure as a whole. Censorship is difficult, not only because we value free speech so highly, but also because people will always find a way around it. It’s better to evaluate the issue for what it is in the context of the medium, rather than mistaking the medium for the issue.
Censorship is also difficult because we lack guiding evidence on what kind of censorship is constructive or even possible in the new technological age.
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Racism, Tribalism, and Identity #
I want to talk about racism. Specifically, social identity, tribalism, and how supportive ideas are accepted and spread.
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History lessons are taught as if the slaughter of the native peoples, slavery, and Jim Crow are all just distant memories we’ve washed our hands clean of, but a bulk of the injustices committed in our society today are still against people of color.
The last thing we need right now is a rising tide of organized white supremacy, but unfortunately it’s what we’re faced with. If we don’t face it down, it will bring down our whole country.
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(TRANSITION OUT) Humans are wired to categorize others by in-group and out-group. Why does this lead to violence? It may be that we need to examine individual incidents within their respective contexts.
Propaganda, Post-Truth, and the Role of Facts and Feelings
I have learned that there is a lot of fear and rage in this country, and that so much more is still simmering, ready to boil over into acts of terror if nothing is done. In the past, similar far-right movements have also worked to silence and denigrate real scientific research which threatens their cause, and to even go to such lengths as to publish their own pseudo-science propaganda. Present, similar trends appear bleak when viewed in the light of our history.
I have a passionate love affair with science, and am terrified by the role that the far-right, especially white supremacist groups, have in downplaying and even taking up arms to battle and discredit well-established theories and evidence which challenge their views and methods as dangerous, harmful, and wrong. What should be even more disturbing to all of us is the trend towards dismissing scientific fact altogether.
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