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YouTube Disabled Comments On Livestreams Of A Congressional Hearing On White Nationalism Because They Were Too Hateful (buzzfeednews.com)

Tuesday's hearing was meant to examine the rise of white nationalism and white supremacy and the role social media plays in its spread. Then the comments got hijacked. From a report: YouTube moderators disabled comments on livestreams of the House Judiciary Committee's hearing about hate crimes the rise of white nationalism on Tuesday, deeming them too hateful for the platform. The comment sections quickly flooded with hate speech and white nationalist memes before the hearing had even started. The comments included derogatory remarks about women on camera, anti-Semitic slurs, far-right memes with references to "white genocide," and pro-Trump slogans. The channels' comments sections were deactivated within an hour. [...] YouTube's disabling of comments is ironic: House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat from New York, made special reference in his opening statement of the role social media platforms play in spreading hate speech and extremism in his opening statement.

32 of 431 comments (clear)

  1. Why this one video by SuperKendall · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I don't know if these "You Tube Moderators" have looked around much, but you can find hateful comments on pretty much any video. Why block comments on just this one?

    If YouTube wants to block "hateful comments" why do they allow comments anywhere?

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Why this one video by Freischutz · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't know if these "You Tube Moderators" have looked around much, but you can find hateful comments on pretty much any video. Why block comments on just this one?

      If YouTube wants to block "hateful comments" why do they allow comments anywhere?

      Because the quantity and hatefulness blew the scale?

    2. Re:Why this one video by BringsApples · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Seems proper to me. Here they are, the big-wigs meeting about the role that social media plays in fueling hate. YouTube, a social media platform would be super stupid to NOT turn off the hate in such a situation.

      --
      Politics; n. : A religion whereby man is god.
    3. Re:Why this one video by Crashmarik · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Oh that's hilarious. Truly hateful speech invalidates itself. It's why conservatives love it when totalitarians of all stripes open up their mouths.
      I would guess it's more a case of far too many accurate comments and questions.

      Examples:
      How do you raise the minimum wage to 15/hr while simultaneously allowing an endless flood of people in that will work for $5/hr ?
      If sexual preference is biologically determined, just how is gender a social construct ?
      Or the simple If it's OK for the U.S. to interfere in Russian elections, why wouldn't you expect them to return the favor ?

    4. Re:Why this one video by XXongo · · Score: 4, Informative
      I don't see any of those examples being removed from the comment section of Youtube.

      The removed comments are a lot more disturbing, stuff like Heil Hitler posts & death threats.

    5. Re: Why this one video by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No federally elected Democrat is arguing that,

      Multiple elected Democrats in the House and Senate are for totally open borders and minimum wage at $15.

      Just the facts, man.

      --
      "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    6. Re: Why this one video by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Just the facts, man.

      AhahahahahahahaNo. Your source is bad, and you should feel bad.

      Just because they call themselves "non-partisan" doesn't mean that they actually are.

      Biased or not, his source cites the Washington Post, among others. Is that a right-wing rag to you?

      Facts remain facts regardless of the bias of the person stating them.

    7. Re: Why this one video by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Informative

      The facts, huh? Your link is an inaccurate summary of a WaPo story, which it actually links to but I'll repeat it here: https://www.washingtonpost.com...

      As anyone can read for themselves, it does not say that the Democrats want totally open borders. That is simply false, and in fact as the article notes they are willing to fund ICE.

      --
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  2. Re:There is only one kind of speech in America by CohibaVancouver · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Hey Anonymous Coward - Don't quote the constitution if you don't understand it.

    The constitution says THE GOVERNMENT can't censor your speech. Last time I checked, there was no mention in the constitution of private corporations like YouTube.

  3. And? by the_skywise · · Score: 4, Funny

    So it looked like the typical slashdot post comments then?

  4. Dumb-but-serious question... by Penguinisto · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I understand what a "white supremacist" is. I understand what a "French Nationalist", or a "Argentinian Nationalist" would be. However, the term "White Nationalist" is semantically and massively wrong (but then, so would "Black Nationalist" or "Asian Nationalist"...) After all, what nation is titled as "White"?

    I get that stamping out racism is a good thing, but seriously, folks - at least don't mangle the language while you do it.

    --
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    1. Re:Dumb-but-serious question... by mcmonkey · · Score: 4, Insightful

      However, the term "White Nationalist" is semantically and massively wrong (but then, so would "Black Nationalist" or "Asian Nationalist"...) After all, what nation is titled as "White"?

      If someone was a nationalist, and thought their nation should be solely or dominantly one race, would it not be semantically and massively correctly to refer to them as a "[Race] Nationalist"?

      (Race being not a biological category, as humans are a single species, but a reference to skin color, geographical ancestry, or religion.)

  5. They should see Starcraft II general chat! by King_TJ · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Seriously .... it's amazingly bad, how often online conversations or comments on social media devolve into utter garbage. I imagine in this instance, it was egged on because of the political topic of discussion. Furthermore? I'm fairly confident the vast majority of "white supremacist" comments were made by teenagers trying to get a rise out of people.

    I mean, sure -- you really DO have these racist hate groups around. But they're generally rather disorganized or lack enough membership to do anything significant. You have FAR more people who are just angry and like to talk trash than you do people who are truly committed to promoting neo-nazis or some kind of white supremacy movement.

    1. Re:They should see Starcraft II general chat! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Um, actually, if you march carrying torches at night shouting Nazi slogans, then yes, you are a Nazi. Mike Godwin himself, author of that law, came out and publicly said "Go right ahead and call them Nazis, because they are!" AC

    2. Re:They should see Starcraft II general chat! by mcmonkey · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Guys, nobody is a Nazi.

      You generally have a good point, but the people marching with torches chanting "the Jews will not replace us" are nazis.

      Not everyone who disagrees with me is a nazi. Nor is everyone more conservative than I am or everyone who believes negative stereotypes based on skin color or religion.

      But that does not mean there are no nazis.

  6. The timing on this is almost perfect. by slappynipsy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's nearly the 10 year anniversary of John Gabriel's groundbreaking theory. https://www.penny-arcade.com/c...

  7. Re:Oversight by MightyMartian · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The narrative here seems to be "talk about white nationalists, and gangs of white nationalists show up to prove just how demented and determined to be assholes they are."

    --
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  8. Re:There is only one kind of speech in America by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Free Speech. Guaranteed by the first (foremost) amendment to the supreme law of the land.

    Anyone who would knowingly abridge it is an enemy of the United States of America.

    Period. Full Stop.

    All Trump supporters should be tied to a post and flogged with a clue stick whilst wearing a refrigerated steel butt plug up their fundament <- That was free speech, now mod me up for making use of the 1st amendment.

    So, modded down to -1 already, it's fun being censored by a bunch of Trump supporters who usually are the first to complain about being censored for hating on brown people in violation of their rights under the 1st amendment.

  9. Re:Oversight by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ... and their perspective of blatant discrimination got validated by YouTube promptly censoring them.

    "Oh, but it's a corporation, not the government censoring them" isn't a great argument when you also claim that corporations own the government, and in this case, I'd agree with you that Google has an amazingly large, malign, influence on the government.

  10. Re:There is only one kind of speech in America by MightyMartian · · Score: 5, Insightful

    For the same reason the Government uses newspapers to advertise and TV networks for televised addresses. Just because the government can use private companies for providing services does not mean that private companies suddenly become branches of the government, and bound to the first Amendments.

    Jesus Christ, the utter lack of understanding on the part of some here just astonishes. This black and white thinking, this inability to comprehend nuance or complexity, and the fundamental ignorance that gets married to it, so that your lack of knowledge gets coupled with astonishing arrogance, that you become blind to how things are actually supposed to work.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  11. Re:There is only one kind of speech in America by smooth+wombat · · Score: 4, Insightful

    As usual, the dullards miss the teeny, tiny caveat to the First Amendment. It only applies to the government.

    As has been stated who knows how many times, a company is free to limit free speech if it so chooses. This is no different than if a casino doesn't want to provide service to someone. It's their property, their rules. Same with YouTube.

    It has nothing to do with being an "enemy" of the U.S. It has to do with a company doing what it wants on its platform. Don't like it? Don't frequent YouTube.

    --
    We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
  12. Re:Oversight by lgw · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The narrative here seems to be "talk about white nationalists, and gangs of white nationalists show up to prove just how demented and determined to be assholes they are."

    That's certainly the narrative. I'd bet the reality is "the chans saw this as a wonderful opportunity to troll, plus some actual white nationalists (who were also channers).".

    --
    Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  13. Humans and Great Apes differ by 2% by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Upwards of 4% of European DNA is Neanderthal DNA; black Africans have zero Neanderthal DNA.

    The point is not that one group is "better" than another, but this idea that all humans are clones of each other, and that race is a social construct, makes no sense; it makes no sense in the raw numbers, and it makes no sense in everyday life.

    People know it's bullshit.

    Now, look into average IQ measurements. Come on; you can do it. Stare into that deep abyss, and know reality for what it is.

  14. Isn't it ironic? Don't you think? by drew_kime · · Score: 3, Funny

    YouTube's disabling of comments is ironic

    If by "ironic" you mean "totally fucking predictable" then yeah, I suppose it was.

    --
    Nope, no sig
  15. Yeah no fan of that by Crashmarik · · Score: 3, Insightful

    But I don't see anyone banning Che Guevara shirts.

    1. Re: Yeah no fan of that by jwhyche · · Score: 4, Informative

      You know why the Nazi's of WWII are regarded more evil than Stalin or Mao? The Nazi's where better record keepers. It's easy to gloss over 20 to 80 million that Stalin had murdered, and the 80 to 200 million that Chairman Mao red revolution slaughtered, when it's all anonymous numbers on a ledger.

      But the Nazi's, now they new how to keep records over who they butchered. They had names, addresses, and a count of every item the took from jews before they gassed them.

      Yes, the nazi's where just better record keepers, but communist stand way taller on a mountain of anonymous dead.

      --
      I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
    2. Re: Yeah no fan of that by jwhyche · · Score: 3

      Except there is literally not a single written record of the Holocaust. I'm completely serious. Go ahead, look for one.

      Yes there are, you fucking dumbass.

      https://www.denverpost.com/201...

      It took me exactly 30 seconds to find that article. An I know these fucking records exist. The damn nazi's that kept them told the alias what they are. So go fuck yourself.

      People like to put holocaust deniers on the same level as the flat earthers. Laugh at them for their stupidity and move on. They shouldn't. The flat earthers are just harmless in their brand of stupidity. These holocaust deniers would have us believe that the systematic round up, record, and murder of 12 million human beings never happened.

      Yes, I'm feeding the troll.

      --
      I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
  16. Re:Oversight by gtall · · Score: 3, Funny

    Because Google does have an amazingly large, malign, influence on the government?

  17. Re:Sadly any place by LordAba · · Score: 3, Insightful

    any place at all where speech is truly free is going to be flooded with hatred trying to drown out everything else.

    It's unfortunate, and I don't have a solution, but it is an incontrovertible fact of life.

    I totally disagree. Sunlight is a great disinfectant, and more speech is always better. The issue comes in echo chambers that are cut off from one another either voluntarily or by force. These allow extreme ideas and sentiment to exist. Some of the best research on getting rid of extremism states that two people talking will do more than nearly any amount of censorship.

    It's a lot harder to use the n-word when a friend will smack you in the back of the head. It's a lot harder to breed resentment when people close to you say "not cool" when you post about white genocide. Virtue signalling usually gets you odd looks when you do it on the bus. But get into a community of like minded people who enforce such behavior and that all goes out the window.

    Being social and interacting with others is a muscle like any other (even the "brain muscle")... without training and exercise one can easily become an NPC.

  18. Interesting... by Big+Boss · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I find it amusing and interesting that the "conservatives" want businesses to have rights and religion when they are discriminating against gays, but freak out when some business decides they don't want said "conservatives" as a customer.

    It's a bit like the "tolerance" groups that only have tolerance for the groups/religions/etc. THEY like.

    Left/Right, D/R, doesn't matter. They are all stupid. :)

  19. Re:Trump's latest government deform: #DWHS by shanen · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Hmm... I'm not certain. I am convinced that Trump thinks HE himself is (genetically and presidentially and otherwise) superior, but I think it is mostly at a personal, familial level rather than at a racial level. Rather I suspect Trump is so solipsistic that he has no real feelings about groups as such. Therefore I think Trump can be played by the racists, but he isn't nearly as sincere about it as Miller and Bannon. I think Trump has always been a puppet, and the only trick to pulling his strings is to convince Trump it was his idea in the first place. As long as you are pushing him from behind, Trump thinks he's leading.

    Having said that, I do have to agree that there is plenty of racist stuff in Trump's past. The Central Park Jogger stuff is especially bad, but there was some less racist stuff mixed in, too. For example, if a black celebrity could help him make some money, then Trump was much more concerned about the money than the race.

    I just don't think Trump was smart enough to come up with the idea of the Department of White Homeland Security, and his willingness is not that important. In fact, now he seems to be getting cold feet.

    If Trump had any imagination, then I'd think he was afraid of a protest mocking one of his own rallies. I still want to see the video of "Lock kids up, LOCK KIDS UP!" In my imagination, the protesters are in Trump face, and the video builds to an angry crescendo before collapsing into howls of insane rage.

    --
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  20. Um.. no, that's not the problem. by rsilvergun · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The Problem is that when you cut programs for fighting domestic terror in a country where white supremacists account for a disproportionate amount of attacks and then say both sides are bad when literal Nazis are rallying, well...

    There just comes a time to call a Spade a Spade. I don't care of Trump really drinks the Kool-Aid or is just doing it for the votes or even the lulz. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and hiel Hitler's like a duck, it's a White Nationalist. Sooner we stop living in denial the better. This will not end well for us otherwise. Ignoring reality never does...

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