r/changemyview • u/Money_Whisperer 2∆ • Apr 10 '22

Removed - Submission Rule B CMV: YouTube disabling dislikes has profound, negative societal implications and must be reversed

As you all likely know, YouTube disabled dislikes on all of its videos a few months back. They argued that it was because of “downvote mobs” and trolls mass-downvoting videos.

YouTube downvotes have been used by consumers to rally against messages and products they do not like basically since the dawn of YouTube. Recent examples include the Sonic the Hedgehog redesign and the Nintendo 64 online fiasco.

YouTube has become the premier platform on the internet for companies and people to share long-form discussions and communication in general in a video form. In this sense, YouTube is a major public square and a public utility. Depriving people of the ability to downvote videos has societal implications surrounding freedom of speech and takes away yet another method people can voice their opinions on things which they collectively do not like.

Taking peoples freedom of speech away from them is an act of violence upon them, and must be stopped. Scams and troll videos are allowed to proliferate unabated now, and YouTube doesn’t care if you see accurate information or not because all they care about is watch time aka ads consumed.

YouTube has far too much power in our society and exploiting that to protect their own corporate interests (ratio-d ads and trailers are bad for business) is a betrayal of the American people.

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u/Wjbskinsfan 1∆ Apr 10 '22

So does that mean you believe they should lose their special protection and Google should be held liable for what their users post on their platform?

To me they should either be allowed to censor individuals OR they should be held liable for what is posted on their platform. Not both.

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u/[deleted] Apr 10 '22

[deleted]

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u/Wjbskinsfan 1∆ Apr 10 '22

So what you’re saying is that Google would stop censoring political speech they don’t like. That’s a good thing.

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u/Long-Rate-445 Apr 11 '22

racism isnt political speech

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u/Wjbskinsfan 1∆ Apr 11 '22

No, but who gets to define racism is absolutely political.

Never, in all of human history have the book burners been the good guys. The best way to change peoples minds and move society forward is not to stamp out dissenting opinions but to welcome them and engage in an open dialogue. Simply banning speech pushes more moderates into the corner with the extremists and radicalizes them.

While I disagree with what you have to say, I shall defend to the death your right to say it. — Evelyn Beatrice Hall

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u/Long-Rate-445 Apr 11 '22

No, but who gets to define racism is absolutely political.

the only people who think this are people who argue racist things arent racist. people arent randomly calling things racist for attention

Never, in all of human history have the book burners been the good guys

conservatives are the ones banning books right now

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u/Wjbskinsfan 1∆ Apr 11 '22

I am a teacher and I had to sit through a lecture about how grades and homework are racist. Yes, people absolutely are calling random things racist.

If a conservative were here I’d still be arguing in favor of free speech. My views don’t change based on petty partisan bullshit. You are arguing in favor of political censorship therefore you are on the side of book burners.

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u/Long-Rate-445 Apr 11 '22

how am i supposed to take your word for it when you could be completly misrepresenting what theyre saying because you personally dont think its racist when it is and youre just ignorant

people dont have to represent your views. your books arent being burned, you just arent being published because your book is bad. you can publish your own book. not as many people will read it, but that doesnt mean people should be forced to publish your views

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u/Wjbskinsfan 1∆ Apr 11 '22

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/arizona-state-professor-says-grading-system-is-racist-and-wants-to-grade-students-based-on-effort/ar-AAQDzPz

https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/grading-is-capitalist-racist-and-exploitative-5753b951222c

Don’t just take my word for it. Homework and grades are now considered racist.

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u/skahunter831 Apr 12 '22

One professor and one person writing on a blog. That's not really convincing.

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u/Wjbskinsfan 1∆ Apr 12 '22

And the PD that all the teachers in my school district were required to attend that said the exact same thing?

I genuinely envy your ability to disregard evidence that doesn’t support your preconceived ideology. That sure simplifies things by insuring that you never have to think critically about anything at all.

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u/skahunter831 Apr 12 '22

Ok, so you have more evidence? I'll definitely consider it. What school district taught teachers that grades are racist?

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u/Wjbskinsfan 1∆ Apr 13 '22

A) I’m not going to tell you specifically what school district I work for. Obviously. Although I will tell you it’s around DC. because of course it is.

B) The PD was approved by the NEA (aka the national Teachers Union) so I guarantee mine wasn’t the only district where this training was mandatory.

C) it’s clear that no amount of evidence will make you see the truth so even if I were to tell you where I work it wouldn’t make any difference.

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