As I mentioned in a previous article about Steemfest, when I asked about the problem of whales downvotingbarticles they just don’t agree with or because they don’t like the writer, I was met by the CTO @sneak with a brush off.
So I saw him at dinner and probed further. For some reason, in his defence, he brought up ‘anti vaxxers’ (a label, which like all labels, I shy away from) and said that if someone posts questioning vaccinations or suggesting that there may be a link between autism and vaccinations, he will downvote them and in his mind this is justifiable.
When a fellow Steemian suggested that there may be a link, based on his personal experience of meeting mothers who saw a huge change in their children soon after vaccination, he laughed in disgust and walked away.
He then posted this...
My official statement:
If you are a bigot, and you insist on making bigoted statements instead of educating yourself about why bigotry is idiotic:
Please die in a fire.
And a discussion developed. I then posted as you can see below with the ensuing brief reply thread. Seeing this type of posting by a CTO, deters me from recommending this platform to investors because of the childish nature of what he writes.
dannyshine (56) · 11 days ago
Unsuprising that the very man who walked away from us in disgust because someone suggested that vaccinations may be linked to autism. This is classic projection as sneak is not able to accept the bigoted part of himself. According to the definition posted here, this applies to almost everyone I know. But the only person I can do anything about is myself. To notice when I feel like not tolerating someone else’s opinion and go inside and figure out what’s really going on. I can then have compassion for myself and then for others. Bigotry is just fear manifested. It’s scary having an open mind. So although I flagged this post for a bit of fun, I forgive the bigot within and forgive the bigot in you and others.
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sneak (64) · 14 hours ago
I excused myself politely because I had to go; this didn't stop you from harassing me the following day unbidden.
It is my sincere hope that all you pseudoscientific anti-vax nonsense peddlers lose or forget your passwords.
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dannyshine (56) · 2 minutes ago
I always find it interesting to see how the ego fights so hard to protect itself. I was not the only one there mate. And I wasn’t even the one that said I thought there may be a link between autism and vaccinations. You laughed in disgust and walked off. And if you think that asking you the next day about vaccinations is harassment then you have an extremely low pain threshold and I wouldn’t strongly advise you against having children or getting married.
With regards to calling anyone who disagrees with your POV pseudoscientific, how many books have you read that poses arguments from at least both sides of the argument?
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dannyshine (56) · 44 seconds ago
Instead of childish wishes of lost keys for someone with a different POV, why not respond to what I actually wrote
This is too bad! When you downvote a post, it should only be for:
"Disagreement on rewards,
Fraud or Plagiarism,
Hate Speech or Internet Trolling,
Intentional miss-categorized content or Spam" (from the flag warning dialog).
It shouldn't be used to disagree with someone's opinion. Post your own opinion and let the best one win! Why would you be scared of someone else's opinion on the internet. Even if you think it's false information, "sheltering" people from it will not help your cause, it will just make people believe it more because you are "hiding" something. Write your own post explaining why it's wrong, and trust people to make their own decisions! /rant
I will be thinking of a solution for this....
Thanks for the post!
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Well put!
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Some good points brought up. If someone doesn't like our opinion they can choose to not look, unfollow, mute.
For example, you wrote a post a while back about the idea of unfollowing people who eat meat. That I can respect, even though it made me a bit sad because I am a homesteader trying to be self-sufficient. What would be un-respectable would have been if you started flagging my homesteading posts.
I hope we can one day reach a level of maturity or innovation, here on the Steem blockchain, where opinion flagging/downvoting is a thing of the past.
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I didn’t say I was going to unfollow non vegans. I said that I was considering only up voting vegans!
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Ok, thanks for clarifying that you would still follow, just not upvote.
My point was that you set a respectable boundary.
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I like your style Danny,
your not afraid to tell it how it is.
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This reminds of the Atheist movement back in the 90s. It was generally quite aggressive, harsh, and riduculing towards Theists.
The problem with that approach I think was self evident, it drew lines in the sand, and I found myself noticing a lot of emotional attacks by Atheists, the ones arguing for logic and science.
I was very confused as I had to use my own emotional "kung fu" just to get the arguments on paper.
I would have been saved many years of blind faith if I had found what seemed to be a decent human being laying out the arguments.
I think the same can be said for vaccination arguments.
The pro-vax community need to be willing to let people have their beliefs especially when the theories and ideas are rejected without being fairly assessed.
It shows childishness and tribalist behaviour for something that should not need any defence.
I vaccinated my children, I wish I didn't need to, but my research into the world of vaccinations was not conclusive, I couldn't find enough evidence to resist it.
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You make such excellent points here. Brilliant. I think I’ll post this on my Facebook page too. So important.
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Thank you!
Please feel free.
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If you don't like what someone says, perhaps don't upvote them. Or mute them. Or at the very least just skip over their post and don't engage with it. Using downvoting as a form of censorship on people's opinions shows the true character of a person. We should be able to be big and strong enough to accept that sometimes people say things we don't like, or disagree with. And deal with it because that's basically life. And true power comes from being comfortable that a difference of opinion is not an attack on you personally. (Well, most of the time anyway).
Whales with loads of power censoring people to my mind is one of the biggest threats to this community. And ultimately therefore to themselves, as if we aren't free here to express an alternative opinion, then this platform runs the risk of dooming itself. And I for one do not wish to see that happen.
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Well said! And maybe it's time to change the system so that a downvote from one powerful person cannot void the upvotes of 100s of others.
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I think you should let go this issue. Not everyone can immediately change their established opinions for which they are systematically brainwashed for a long long time. Probably time will come when he will look into the subject deeper and make an informed view-point.
It's not just @sneak there are several others who would downvote you if they don't agree to you or your opinion directly contradicts theirs. I think that's how things work here. Not everyone has got the capability to debate or logically explain their stand or even discuss the issue rationally esp. when the ego is too dominating.
But all these shouldn't deter you from recommending this platform to more investors and bloggers. In fact, this should motivate you to bring in many more investors who have an open-minded approach so that all those combined can put on the required weight on their statements or opinions.
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indeed, it takes time for people open up to new ways of thinking
and it's such a beautiful idea to keep focusing on what we can do to help each other, being pro-active and creating positive initiatives!
one point that is important to me is that it serves ourselves and our humanity to point out when lines or ethics and morals are crossed, and to work together in constructive ways to find a mutually beneficial solution so that everyone
we offer grace whenever possible, and a gentle "you are stepping on my toes" whenever needed
be it in the form of a spotlight on a person's negative actions, followed by a reconciliation (see "ubuntu healing circle")
or in the form of a forced containment (if someone is negatively impacting the well-being of others in a life threatening manner) accompanied by loving therapeutic applications
thank you for helping bring all of our inner darkness to light, so that all of our inner resistances can be bathed by the sunlight
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Thanks to you too!
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Well stated. I think the whole point of Steemit is to be decentralised and free. The people running the show can't the down vote just because they disagree, they need to open up there mind a bit here. I find it very hypercritical that they can't let people express their own opinion, this is a serious flaw in their logic.
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