After Kirk shooting, Utah governor calls social media a “cancer.” Will we treat it like one?

We did not evolve to handle this, Utah governor says.

See full article...

 

[idspispopd]

Hard to take any Republican seriously on anything related to this when none of them could even so much as condem the assassination of Melissa Hortman. Or their response to the attempt murder of Nancy Pelosi and vicious attack on her husband. Or their delight and mock of school shooting victim with "though and prayers"

Nothing Spencer Cox says can be taken in good faith. Him and the rest of the Republicans burned that bridge so long ago.

Social media does have issues, but addressing them is not what Spencer Cox wants. Engaging with this in good faith is a mistake, they don't care at all about making it better, they are only trying to exploit this for their own benefit.

Real improvement to social media needs to start with the minorities that the Republicans are trying to violently oppress.

 

[motytrah]

You mean like we approach healthcare in general in the USA? Make treating it a for-profit business that doesn't prioritize the well-being of the patient, focus on the problem as a business case rather than humanitarian?

Yea, I imagine we'll treat it as cancer in the USA.

The Supreme Court ruled that Tik Tok had to be shut down and/or sold. The administration has more or less just ignored that ruling with a non-sense executive order. It's a literal constitutional crisis that the media isn't covering AT ALL. Outside Sarah Isgur, who ironically was a former Trump DOJ appointee, and now ABC analyst. When she bring it up on air the mainstream rank and file shrug.

 

[jsully2549]

Yes, this is certainly an example of social media cancer


View: https://x.com/DHSgov/status/1965551846707396614


We have always been at war with Oceania.

 

[JonTD]

The media are doing a fantastic job at this - in just under a day, I've had people (who previously never mentioned or discussed Chuck with me), start repeating the talking points of "we may not have agreed, but he was interested in debate"

This in itself is a crazy narrative. Charlie Kirk worked very hard to avoid any kind of debate with actual experts and when he ended up doing so he got completely eviscerated, such as when he was at Cambridge.

He made a grift out of debating literal teenagers on emotionally charged topics, not seriously debating issues with policy experts.

 

[Mental Gear Reduction]

Spencer Cox, the governor of Utah, said at a press conference that the shooter's bullets were covered with various bits of graffiti, including:

A post on lemmy claims this wasn't true at all, that it was just made-up crap. I'm not sure who to believe here, but I figured I should pass the doubt along.

I don't know anything about the poster, and it could easily be disinformation.

edit with a thought: there's not a lot of room on a bullet for sayings that complex.

 

[Baumi]

Social media being shitty is mostly a symptom of humans being shitty, and its not a solvable problem.

Humans can be shitty and humans can be great. As a rule of thumb, shittiness often seems to correlate with fear and unhappiness.

Unfortunately, those are the two emotions that seem to provide the highest "engagement" on social media, and, not-so-coincidentally, they're also what right-wingers like to tap into and amplify.

 

[LordEOD]

I no longer have any type of significant emotional stamina due to the constant bombardment of cruelty and inhumanity from this administration (and the world in general).

I only have enough grief for one event a week and so I will grieve for the teen victims at Evergreen High School.
My neighbor didn't even know of the school shooting because it has received almost no news coverage.

Edit: Spelling

 

[RickRoyLeonPrisZhoraRacha]

We can have freedom of speech, but we should not have freedom of hate, freedom of intimidation, freedom of harassment.. without consequence; that is why we need regulation of social media. Because now, the push to remove all anonymity will be here, sooner than you expect.

Sites like Reddit, have mods. But eventually, as others here have pointed out, fanatics will get their own platform and attract their own. Or state-actors will sponsor them to undermine nations.

I really think that no political candidate or holder of a high office (E.G. Trump) should be entitled to their own platform (Truth Social) to incite, false rhetoric and profit from while in or out of office. That right should be excluded from all politicians as their voice should be accountable and held so by the people. Lies, poison, hate, vindication is all I read, hear and see from the GOP. I am ashamed to be in a country that seems to feel "its a right to blame the other party for its own failures. To make decals of a photoshopped Biden that is tied and gagged, is just heinous.

Social media is now a cesspool. Unless regulated, it will get worse. And, in the US, where all this was born, its a capitalist-toy of profits in adrevenue and addiction. You can ween off it. You can tell the advertisers - no, I will not support you. Because before social media, we still has ways to communicate ... that were not all at the exploitation and profits of billionaire sycophants.

 

[ImagesbyMurray]

I have no social media accounts; the promise of a virtual town square just does not hold up to scale. Add in the algorithms that only promote individual self-interest and platform profit makes your cancer diagnosis spot on

 

[Deleted member 1085004]

The different enemy factions in Helldivers 2 are called fascists (terminids), socialists (automatons) and all are enemies of the "democratic" Super Earth. "Hey fascist, catch!" and then the code for the game weapon is a meme within the community. Right-wing media literacy is abysmal, and they often call Democrats fascists and communists because... reasons. Just a terminally online fan of the game misunderstanding the sarcasm of it, not someone that deeply understood what they were actually saying.

Thanks for explaining it better than I could, I don't play the game, but the thought is that this guy putting memes of something popular and trying to find deeper meaning into it to find out who's side he's on and if he had some deep ideological manifesto like the Unabomber is thinking too much about this. Phrases are appropriated to be a sarcastic dick online in these groups.

It's become clear whatever muddled views he had on Kirk or life or anything wasn't any devoted purpose as the guy didn't even vote the past two elections. To me based on the info coming out, he's the modern murdering equivalent of a 4chan /b/ shock Goatse meme - no purpose or reason behind it other than just to do it.

 

[msawzall]

Also Spencer Cox: "For the last 33 hours, I had been praying that this person was from another country. That he was not one of us because we are not like that. But it was one of us."

Pardon me, but I'll take my advice from folks who are not clearly xenophobic.

 

[thrillgore]

The different enemy factions in Helldivers 2 are called fascists (terminids), socialists (automatons) and all are enemies of the "democratic" Super Earth. "Hey fascist, catch!" and then the code for the game weapon is a meme within the community. Right-wing media literacy is abysmal, and they often call Democrats fascists and communists because... reasons. Just a terminally online fan of the game misunderstanding the sarcasm of it, not someone that deeply understood what they were actually saying.

Which is funny, because Super Earth meets every definition of the real fascist/totalitarian empire. They are an outright expy of the Federation from the Starship Troopers movie. Colonies in Super Earth are unceremoniously dropped on high-Terminid planets to get their blood (E-710) for jump drives and their losses are considered acceptable; the jump drive tech was straight up jacked from the Illuminate, the Automatons are merely trying to save the Cyborgs they have enslaved...

Would you like to know more?

 

[ColdWetDog]

I think the problem here is not that humans did not evolve to process violent imagery or that technology itself is inherently a cancer. People have always been capable of encountering violence and history is full of examples of public spectacles far worse than anything on a screen.

The real issue is how companies like Facebook, TikTok, and X have abused Section 230 protections to build systems that maximize engagement at any cost. Their algorithms reward cruelty, outrage, and misinformation while executives pretend they are powerless or hide behind free speech bullshit whilst they have their hand on the algorithm. The problem is not people’s biology or even the existence of social media itself. The problem is corporate incentives that profit from amplifying our worst impulses. It started in conservative media in the 90s, and everyone on every side has since rushed in to get those dollars.

Sure, that's part of it, but let's not pretend that the weaponization of all parts of society is anything but a significant part of the MAGA / fascist / Republican. Ten children get shot in a school 'Tots and Pears, it happens'. One right wing firebrand gets shot, flags are at half mast, the president goes to the funeral and the right wing demonizes the entire Democratic party. While social media carries the load, MAGA keeps lighting the fires.

 

[EricM2]

I would say the reason social media, as it is in its current engagement-driven-algorithm form, might be a cancer is due to its emphasis on short form content that's designed to get an emotional reaction in dunking, [...]

Promoting emotion over ratio via algorithms was initially intended to increase engagement with the platform, essentially they use emotion as drug and as a marketing tool like in alcohol or cigarettes. Sell more by raising the content of the drug, by raising emotion, by promoting controversial content over sober reasoning.

This marketing has heavy side effects on people trying to actually discuss on social media. For real discussions to work, ratio must overrule emotion, you must convince other people, not shouting them down.
But you can't do that on a medium where the algorithms are designed to heavily promote emotion. The algorithms work against reasoning and promote dispute.

As such social media can very well even be the root cause for the political discourse having descended into a shouting match of opposing tribes.
Worldwide.

 

[Mental Gear Reduction]

I have no social media accounts; the promise of a virtual town square just does not hold up to scale. Add in the algorithms that only promote individual self-interest and platform profit makes your cancer diagnosis spot on

One could certainly argue that an Ars account is social media.

 

[JCarnage]

Then why don't we talk about the thousands of others who unfoundedly called people like Charlie "fascists" and "nazis", which radicalized someone enought to murder the man?

lol - you're a right wing nutter who choses not to take ANY responsibility for your actions.

You claim the shooter was 'radicalized' with ZERO evidence. At some point I expect you to claim he was radicalized at 'College' because you still don't grasp the situation at hand. I bet yesterday you were all mad that he was trans kid (you know because the bullets had TRN on them).

Anyway, I don't know that Chuck was a Nazi or a Fascist, but he sure enjoyed hanging out with Nazis and Fascists.

 

[no_free_lunches_for_ai]

Maybe not the news outlets you watch. I see dozens of posts about his better messages every day. But then again, you read the headline of this article and came here and still haven't realized that news medias are designed to divide us. Good job, you're the target demographic.

While it's extremely rare to run across people, like trump, who I have not heard a single "better message" from in over a decade. There are plenty of raging assholes, rapists, murderers, etc that can still put out "better messages" at times.

While I do not personally follow or know much about Cox Kirk (edit: know so little I got the names confused), the examples I've seen (even if hand-picked) do not support him being seen as a "misunderstood" or "regular" guy. Regardless of if he occasionally put out the "better message" (as literally mentioned by the OP), the extremes of his many other comments don't put him in any sort of flattering light.

 

[drinkingcoffee]

The different enemy factions in Helldivers 2 are called fascists (terminids), socialists (automatons) and all are enemies of the "democratic" Super Earth. "Hey fascist, catch!" and then the code for the game weapon is a meme within the community. Right-wing media literacy is abysmal, and they often call Democrats fascists and communists because... reasons. Just a terminally online fan of the game misunderstanding the sarcasm of it, not someone that deeply understood what they were actually saying.

Honestly, that explanatio/context feels like it should be added to the article.

Especially since the initial reporting on this was that the ammunition had 'anit-fascist' and 'transgender' engravings on it.

 

[Deleted member 388703]

Then why don't we talk about the thousands of others who unfoundedly called people like Charlie "fascists" and "nazis", which radicalized someone enought to murder the man?

If you want to talk about your hallucinations, do it with a therapist, not an internet forum.

 

[mpfaff]

Maybe not the news outlets you watch. I see dozens of posts about his better messages every day. But then again, you read the headline of this article and came here and still haven't realized that news medias are designed to divide us. Good job, you're the target demographic.

I noticed you haven't rebutted any of this with the positive message of Charlie Kirk. Not the parts where he promotes white replacement theory, advocates against trans people existing the same way as non trans people, or that fun bit where he said he doesn't trust black airline pilots. When he got shot he was being cheeky about "trans violence".

 

[thrillgore]

I noticed you haven't rebutted any of this with the positive message of Charlie Kirk. Not the parts where he promotes white replacement theory, advocates against trans people existing the same way as non trans people, or that fun bit where he said he doesn't trust black airline pilots. When he got shot he was being cheeky about "trans violence".

He also has 32 posts, which leads me to think he's here to stir the pot.

 

[Wheels Of Confusion]

And oddly, Mr Kirk believed that empathy was weakness stemming from new age morality... and not, you know, the key thing that makes us human.

I've spent a lot of time analyzing my reaction to his shooting and one thing I've seen that describes a lot of it is this:

He dedicated his adult life to creating a world that was less tolerant and more armed.

Not only did he say a few mass shootings were an acceptable price to pay for the right to own guns, he was literally in the middle of an attempt to paint trans people as especially violent and brand America's mass shootings as a "gang" (read: Black and Latino) problem. He yearned for a world where people like his own assassin could be armed and where political rhetoric was so polarized that violence was inevitable. He did not want a world that would have prevented his own death, he wanted a world that would have made it inevitable. And we can't pretend that's because he was some clear-headed martyr, nobly sacrificing himself for our "freedoms." It's because he has such a distorted, hateful view of the world around him that he thinks violence and intolerance are admirable. He wouldn't have been able to understand the real costs because he clearly couldn't understand the real world, and probably didn't get a chance to connect the dots between his worldview and his shooting before he died.

It sickens me to see his eulogies given in mainstream media where they only focus on the fact that he was reaching out for "dialog" instead of realizing that he ultimately didn't want dialog, he wanted a nation where his view was imposed on everyone else and those that disagreed where criminalized, pathologized, and disenfranchised. He used free speech but ultimately didn't work to support it.

 

[Kaiser Sosei]

I see dozens of posts about his better messages every day.

Oh, do tell.

 

[Deleted member 1085004]

One could certainly argue that an Ars account is social media.

I feel like a dinosaur seeing linked X posts now being long text-unlimited statements now with back and forth with people, and Discord as a popular thing for people to discuss a topic real time anonymously. These novel modern things once known as a forum and chat room.

 

[PaulWTAMU]

People have always been capable of encountering violence and history is full of examples of public spectacles far worse than anything on a screen.

I saw my first death before social media was a thing (in home hospice and a car wreck or two); we've always seen horrible shit. but having echo chambers we can actively curate to this extent are new and likely not good for us

 

[dread pirate nancy]

An MSNBC commentator got fired for saying the following. There are an abundance of articles referencing the comments and the firing, but very few actually let the reader see the comments and decide for themselves:

"We don't know if this was a supporter shooting their gun off in celebration. So we have no idea about this."

"He's been one of the most divisive, especially divisive younger figures in this, who is constantly sort of pushing this sort of hate speech or sort of aimed at certain groups. And I always go back to, hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions,"

"I think that is the environment we are in. You can't stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and not expect awful actions to take place. And that's the unfortunate environment we are in."

This is the metric for unacceptability? No, this is stifling of free speech by the right. Conservative media exhibits worse behavior hourly. When you have lost this much control of the message, what's left?

Edit: Fox News host suggest killing homeless people by lethal injection

 

[S-T-R]

The guy published loads of YouTube vids and plenty vids are published by others. Surely then you'd be able to find a vid of his transphobic views? And I don't mean a one-liner taken out of context... Go on.... let 'em rip.

The 2nd to last sentence this man ever said was to blame mass shootings on trans people.

 

[kgh]

While I do not personally follow or know much about Cox, the examples I've seen (even if hand-picked) do not support him being seen as a "misunderstood" or "regular" guy. Regardless of if he occasionally put out the "better message" (as literally mentioned by the OP), the extremes of his many other comments don't put him in any sort of flattering light.

Unfortunately, I do know Governor Cox. I agree that it is hard to find any flattering light around him

 

[gijames1225]

Social media being shitty is mostly a symptom of humans being shitty, and its not a solvable problem.

Exactly, the real question is, as always, finding the balance between letting humans be somewhat shitty and letting them be somewhat free.

That said, political othering and rhetoric has definitely reached a fever pitch in the context of most of our lives (basically, everyone is conceived of as an existential threat), but one suspects that would happen cyclically regardless of social media as we can look back at other decades on the countries history that were likewise extremely divided and filled with insane rhetoric.

 

[dread pirate nancy]

Don't make too much out of the reaction to Kirk. He went out of his way to be human garbage so it's no surprise that there's no empathy for his death. On the other hand, there's plenty of empathy on display for innocent victims of gun violence.

You should checkout r/conservative, they are suggesting monuments.

 

[enlightened.doggo]

It will be interesting to see if people forget about this within a couple months time, just like they seem to have with all of the other (non-presidential) political attacks in recent years. I'm predicting that the average person will not care at all.

 

[MyBloodyBallantine]

The guy published loads of YouTube vids and plenty vids are published by others. Surely then you'd be able to find a vid of his transphobic views? And I don't mean a one-liner taken out of context... Go on.... let 'em rip.


View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/FhzqKQzueKU


Also, the word fascist once described the very worst society had to offer. This was just a normal American guy who went around the country sharing his views and listening to the views of others. We may not agree with many things he said, but labeling him the worst that society had to offer got him a bullet in his neck.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyAqMIZdX5g&t=60s

Ahh yes, just a normal guy who runs a well known PAC who has a watchlist of professors and journalists who commit the thoughtcrime of violating conservative orthodoxy. The guy who said that mass shootings are just the cost of freedom. That empathy is a made-up, new age term that does a lot of damage. That the Civil Rights act was a huge mistake. That MLK was awful. That Paul Pelosi being nearly beaten to death was just a lover's quarrel gone wrong and he would happily pay the perpetrator's bail (so funny when someone almost dies!). Etc. etc. Great guy. I'm sure he was nice to some people, but I'm having a hard time imagining what positive things he said can possibly make up for this shit or what possible context there can be to make these statements anything less than awful.

 

[antibolo]

Maybe not the news outlets you watch. I see dozens of posts about his better messages every day. But then again, you read the headline of this article and came here and still haven't realized that news medias are designed to divide us. Good job, you're the target demographic.

Interesting choice of word there. His "better" messages, as opposed to his regular messages of just straight up bigotry, I assume?

 

[kaibelf]

Surprised he didn’t blame Canada.

 

[NOT_RICK]

Oh, do tell.

I can't think of anything "positive" he's said, but I do recall him saying a "patriot" should bail out the guy that hit Paul Pelosi in the head with a hammer. I think it's pretty easy to argue he reaped the political violence he helped to sow.

 

[first_citazen]

The internet is a trash heap of hatred, division and disinformation, and that's just the ads....