I am impressed by this talk by Sacha Baron Cohen about online hate on YouTube (and this link for the full transcript). And he is pretty blunt about today’s issues: “All this hate and violence is being facilitated by a handful of internet companies that amount to the greatest propaganda machine in history.”
He observes that “Today around the world, demagogues appeal to our worst instincts. Conspiracy theories once confined to the fringe are going mainstream. It’s as if the Age of Reason—the era of evidential argument—is ending, and now knowledge is delegitimized and scientific consensus is dismissed. Democracy, which depends on shared truths, is in retreat, and autocracy, which depends on shared lies, is on the march. Hate crimes are surging, as are murderous attacks on religious and ethnic minorities.“
“Freedom of speech is not freedom of reach.” Freedom of speech, Sacha Baron Cohen argues, should not and cannot be taken as an excuse by the Marc Zuckerbergs of this world. He observes however that the GAFA are reluctant to act beyond some lip service because their entire business model is at stake. Fact-checking content before it gets posted should be the way. But it will obviously cost more than pay a few hundred people in developing countries try to administer the site content.
I am deeply admirative of this speech, which is really worth reading, and the way someone like Sacha Baron Cohen provides an insightful view into some of the Fourth Revolution’s issues. Kudos.
As a great conclusion, “Voltaire was right, “those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.”” Let’s do something about it!
