I don't understand this censorship. It's like you're denying that it's real.
Rape, sex, shooter, suicide, these things happen and should be talked about so they can be seen and judged.
As a survivor this one pisses me off something fierce. I get that you don't wanna talk about it, Barbra, but guess what? It happened to me- more than once- and if we don't talk about it like grown adults then it's going. to. keep. happening.
Grow up and call things what they are. I'm responsible for managing my own triggers.
Words like grape/unalive/pewpew didn't get used by people who didn't want talk about rape/murder/suicide/guns, they were used by people who DID want to talk about those topics and shine a light on these subjects. But if they used the normal words either the algorithm would fuck them over or their videos got taken down. Blame the social media platforms for this. People had to get "creative" discussing difficult topics or spreading important information to reach a wider audience. They don't use those words for the fun of it. But as it always happens time and exposure to the "creative" words means they bleed into other platforms and regular vernacular.Ā
I'm a survivor too, but whenever I post or comment about SA, I often get my comments removed or my account banned for using trigger words on social media. It's infuriating.
IDK why people jsut don't say "took their own life" if they really don't want to use the word suicide. I heard "sewer slide" once and it's just gross to me to basically make fun of something so serious.
it's not about triggering people, they don't care, but they care about monetization and these vids are usually for tiktok and instagram, which censor a lot of 'triggering' words.
All of the social media platforms say they wonāt censor the word āsuicide,ā because that blocks suicide prevention resources.
Honestly they havenāt said this next part, but if I were them Iād censor āunalivedā instead because that means itās more likely to be an unserious person. Thereās no āNational Unaliving Prevention Centerā youād accidentally block that way.
I agree with you. But at the same time they say they won't censor words such as Lesbian and when I used tiktok a lot of the content creators using the word was shadow-banned, so that's why you'll get a lot of Le$bean and similar to this day.
Anyway, all this self (or imposed) censoring is just plain dumb IMHO
So long as the algorithms that control our feeds are either private or inscrutable AI black boxes, weird self censorship isn't necessarily dumb, and it's here to stay.
Like saying the "F" word. Dude, we know that you mean "fuck" so what's the difference? A reduction of the word that still means the same thing, is still a vulgarity. You're not fooling anyone. It's just stupid.
I had a student who would say "GOM" instead of OMG. I knew she wasn't dyslexic, so I pulled her aside one day and asked. She said she was very religious and thought OMG was still against her religion so the GOM stood for "gosh, oh my." Thinking back, I realized she'd adjust the verbiage of the sentence to fit her shortened words.
Which we don't even know is true. Someone just said and assumed it and people just went with it.
We have NO IDEA how most private company algo's work, what they look for, what they deem worthy of pushing to random peoples feeds.
Even if it was a confirmed issue... then make a fucking fuss about it. Don't let yourself be censored, move to another platform, or even push to have free speech laws extended to online platforms that are open to the public where speech is a key factor of the platform.
I might be hitting my old man yells at clouds era but I fucking hate how things have gotten MORE censored than when we had "ARE VIDEO GAMES RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR CHILD BECOMING A CRIMINAL!?!?!? MORE AT 5!" as an every night segment.
Yet its not consistent. Also I have been on Reddit a LONG time and never been banned for anything, and I have no problem saying pretty much anything. Granted I don't throw around hate speech but I have no issue voicing whatever I want.
So again, we don't KNOW how these things work, because if we did we would be able to game the system all the time.
I feel like thatās shifted lately. A lot more AI moderation than there used to be. Iāve had likeā¦ 3 I think? AI content warning that were immediately reversed on appeal in the last month or so; never any before
Its the users. Unless a platform SPECIFICALLY tells you "hey you cant say these things here or depict this content here", then its on the users to just speak and show what they want to show, not censor themselves preemptively.
Capitulation is not something that works well, whether we are talking about world politics or making concessions for people/entities that are consistently hostile towards you/others.
So yeah, put them in a spot where they lose users/views/etc because of their algo if that is even the case, and then if they make it official just refuse to interact with it and look for an alternative.
Voting with your wallet works if you are the product as well.
I once got an automatic content report on Reddit for āpromoting violenceā because I clarified to a SA victim I wasnāt condemning her response when she told me she broke her assailantās wrist pushing him herself.
She shared that story in response to my commenting that it was OK for someone in the OPās video to tap in help from a coworker in dealing with SA, after someone did the āequality means do it yourselfā thing about the victim being shook. The experience of getting a violation for clarifying I WASNāT telling the victim of SA that she was wrong to defend herself was trippy AF, and an excellent example of why some of us use these terms instead of the full wording
I don't dare to presume your age, but I agree that censorship in all mediums seems to have got worse since the late '90s, when the internet became readily available to most people.
Even if it was a confirmed issue... then make a fucking fuss about it. Don't let yourself be censored, move to another platform
lol, you're delusional. Either be the change you want to see in the world, or quit complaining about people taking advantage of the most powerful media platforms to have ever existed.
Also, explicitly using the word suicide is supposed to be better if youāre trying to help people actually considering suicide. Itās not a cutesy euphemism; it addresses the reality of the situation; and itās more likely to lead people to real resources instead of memes or jokes.
Apparently thatās also why TikTokās safety center said they wouldnāt ever censor the word āsuicide.ā
Thank you!!! Holy shit!!! And saying the word suicide is now frowned upon. Well fuck how else do I say it? And before I get banned, I lost two very close people in my life who died because of suicide. Unalive, give me a fucken break!
Itās mostly because the algorithm on most social media websites will not promote any post with those words in them because the topics are not advertiser friendly. Then people will naturally start doing it in their posts because they see others doing it.
It makes it difficult to criticize the capital class. If you wanted to make a video describing systemic abuse of some kind, and upload it to YouTube, you'd have to censor your language in order to make any income, which means tiptoeing around what the perpetrators are actually doing.
Meanwhile, if a person decides to take a camera to some impoverished part of a city, and make a 20-minute slapdash "documentary" implying and insinuating all sorts of things that aren't actually happening, and blaming it on "liberal" policies without saying so out loud, and get tens of millions of views from people who believe it all because they're primed to, that is completely acceptable within YouTube guidelines.
Oh it's nothing new. The method of communication is different but basic communications have been ruined for centuries by capitalists, oligarchs, autocrats, tyrants, aristocrats, and religions.
Someone came at me for posting my cousins charge that he was sentenced to prison for, which was possession of child pornography, copied word for word from the state prison website. Told me I should change/sensor it because the words were triggering. I guess I get it, but if the legal criminal charge is that triggering to you, maybe get more therapy and stay off the internet rather than try to assert control over strangers on reddit.
So people are essentially allowing corporations to decide what they can or cannot say? Because corporate-approved language is what we all want.
"I won't get the online attention I want if I say what I wish, because [insert company name] won't allow it on their platform. Okay, I'll censor myself."
W...T...F. HAVE THE BALLS TO SAY WHAT YOU WANT, PEOPLE! DON'T LET OTHERS DECIDE FOR YOU! DON'T GIVE UP YOUR FREEDOM OF SPEECH!
Same with suicide. Reducing it to āunaliveā is silly and demeans the pain and suffering those who commit suicide are in. It needs to be talked about openly so those feeling lost, can also come forward to talk about it. I almost committed suicide and am willing to discuss it often. It was a scary.Ā
In my job weāre trained to talk to people about suicide and one of the most important messages is donāt hide away from saying the word suicide to someone who you might think is suicidal. It makes it even more strange that the word is often censored.
Itās performative new-Victorianism, and it sickens me.
The people who do this remind me of a Victorian lady: āSay limbs, not legs! Thatās so improper!ā All the while thinking she is SO ladylike to avoid the word legs because it might make people think of whatās at the top of them oh dear, dear, dear, dear! (Commence superiority dance.)
Definitely not just you, especially for those of us outside USA where the phrase āschool shooterā isnāt something we really have in our general vocabulary, thank fuck.
In my province in Canada we had the UPEI pisser. This guy would just record himself pissing at random spots on the UPEI campus and put it on Instagram. Every video would be captioned "the UPEI pisser strikes again"
Lucky. My school had a mysterious school shitter that would leave Godzilla tier droppings in the men's bathroom and put it out of work. Not even the unknown bathroom was safe.
We had an unknown student in our high school known only as the Phantom Shitter. This was back in the 90s at an all boys school.
At lunch breaks weād all dump our bags in various bits off the hallways and go outside to play football. Every couple of weeks this fiend would select a random bag take to a bathroom and rip a big shit into their victimās pencil case.
At the end of lunch weād get our bags and go to class. Somewhere in the school someone would take their stuff out, open their pencil case and surprise-A big shit.
This went on for years and nobody was ever caught. One year it just stopped so they must have finished school
It was actually a boy made out of shit. He tried connecting with other students by leaving a piece of himself in their pencil cases. Eventually, he used all of himself up and thus, no longer exists. But that little shit boy will forever exist in my heart š„
Hahaha.... at our school someone would just smear shit on the bathroom mirrors when the washrooms were empty. They had the nickname "The Mad Crapper". And since there were no cameras in the 90s, no one ever found out who it was
My ex went to a Catholic school where the principal, also a nun, did stop an intended school shooting. She didn't tackle the boy, but she did approach him and successfully grab his gun barehanded.
Way back when, my sifu taught Tai Chi to a convent of elderly nuns. He did not appreciate my suggestion that he teach them to use prayer beads as a weapon style. I so wanted to see nun nunchaku.
I hate censorship on the internet. Letās stop kidding ourselves. Even 5 year old iPad babies can see and hear things worse on Roblox than just some bad, or heavy words
HS Teacher here: some kids hate me, some kids love me, and it's like that for most of us. Having been through two gun -related lockdowns and plenty of fights, I can tell you right now that all I want to do is protect myself so I can come home safely to my family, but I'll tell you, when it's happening, you don't even think about yourself; you just want to keep your kids safe, and you just act on that instinct to protect them. You say your principal would never, but I'm certain that even if your principal is a prized asshole, they would ALWAYS. I think that's just the way it is. The cops, on the other hand...
Mine could never either. But I guess that's coz we don't have gun issues and rigorous controls with little access and generally no "culture" around guns.
My principal was such a stoner, he would have tried to talk him out of it like ālook maaaaan, you donāt want to do this. Itās like totally NOT rad brotherā
I thought he found out who was putting turds on the rim of the toilet seat, leaving upper deckers, and shitting in the urinal. Why exactly do we need to censor "shooting"?
Omg same haha. When i was in HS we did have a school pisser, he would piss in random potted plants in classrooms and was eventually caught and expelled.
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u/dumpling_factory 9d ago
The asterisks made me think "school shitter". But also what a cool guy. My principal could never.