Conspiracy Theories, Hate Speech, Terrorism, Censorship, Ravi Zacharias
Politico: 'Conspiracy Bingo': Trans-Atlantic Extremists Seize On The Pandemic
Spiritual Sounding Board: Before Evangelicals Canonize Ravi Zacharias, will they learn from Jean Vanier and L'Arche?
Politico: 'Conspiracy Bingo': Trans-Atlantic Extremists Seize On The Pandemic
"The coronavirus is providing a global rallying cry for conspiracy theorists and far-right extremists on both sides of the Atlantic. People seizing on the pandemic range from white supremacists and anti-vaxxers in the U.S. to fascist and anti-refugee groups across Europe, according to a POLITICO review of thousands social media posts and interviews with misinformation experts tracking their online activities. They also include far-right populists on both continents who had previously tried to coordinate their efforts after the 2016 American presidential election. Not all online groups peddling messages on the pandemic have links to the far right, but those extremists have become especially vocal in using the outbreak to push their political agenda at a time of deepening public uncertainty and economic trauma. They are piggybacking on social media to promote coronavirus-related themes drawn from multiple sources — among them, Russian and Chinese disinformation campaigns, the Trump administration's musings about the coronavirus' origins and anti-Muslim themes from India's nationalist ruling party."
"Facebook Inc on Tuesday reported a sharp increase in the number of posts it removed for promoting violence and hate speech across its apps, which it attributed to technology improvements for automatically identifying text and images. The world's biggest social media company removed about 4.7 million posts connected to hate organizations on its flagship app in the first quarter, up from 1.6 million in the 2019 fourth quarter. It also deleted 9.6 million posts containing hate speech, compared with 5.7 million in the prior period. That marks a six-fold increase in hateful content removals since the second half of 2017, the earliest period for which Facebook discloses data. The company also said it put warning labels on about 50 million pieces of content related to COVID-19, after taking the unusually aggressive step of banning harmful misinformation about the new coronavirus at the start of the pandemic. "We have a good sense that these warning labels work. Ninety-five percent of the time that someone sees content with a label, they don't click through to view that content," Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg told reporters on a press call."
Wikipedia: Conspiracy Theories
"Many conspiracy theories have drawn inspiration from the writings of ancient astronaut proponent Zecharia Sitchin, who declared that the Anunnaki from Sumerian mythology were actually a race of extraterrestrial beings who came to Earth around 500,000 years ago in order to mine gold.In his 1994 book Humanity's Extraterrestrial Origins: ET Influences on Humankind's Biological and Cultural Evolution, Arthur Horn proposed that the Anunnaki were a race of blood-drinking, shape-shifting alien reptiles. This theory was adapted and elaborated on by British conspiracy theorist David Icke, who maintains that the Bush family, Margaret Thatcher, Bob Hope, and the British Royal Family, among others, are or were such creatures, or have been under their control. Icke's critics have suggested that 'reptilians' may be seen as an antisemitic code word; a charge he has denied.Since at least the Middle Ages, antisemitism has featured elements of conspiracy theory. In medieval Europe it was widely believed that Jews poisoned wells, had been responsible for the death of Jesus, and ritually consumed the blood of Christians. The second half of the 19th century saw the emergence of notions that Jews and/or Freemasons were plotting to establish control over the world, a similar conspiracy theory relates to cultural Marxism. Forged evidence has been presented to spread the notion that Jews were responsible for the propagation of Communism, or the hoax The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (1903) which outlines a supposed plot by Jews to control the world.Such antisemitic conspiracy theories became central to the worldview of Adolf Hitler. Antisemitic theories persist today in notions concerning banking, Hollywood, the news media and a purported Zionist Occupation Government. These theories have a tyrannical worldview in common.Holocaust denial is also considered an antisemitic conspiracy theory because of its position that the Holocaust is a hoax designed to advance the interests of Jews and justify the creation of the State of Israel. Holocaust deniers include former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad the convicted chemist Germar Rudolf and the discredited author David Irving."
Spiritual Sounding Board: Before Evangelicals Canonize Ravi Zacharias, will they learn from Jean Vanier and L'Arche?
"This is a guest blog post by Steve Baughman. While studying philosophy, he ran across the works of the highly respected Christian apologist, Ravi Zacharias–and then Steve uncovered a colossal number of lies and cover-ups by him."
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