Minds.com co-founder Bill Ottman and activist Daryl Davis went on the "Joe Rogan Experience" to unveil their #ChangeMinds deradicalization initiative.
The team at blockchain-based social network Minds and Davis published a research paper outlining how "deplatforming actually intensifies extremism," and argue how a new approach to online moderation is necessary.
Joe Rogan speaks with @minds advisor and famed de-radicalization activist Daryl Davis about the importance of dialogue.
— Mythinformed MKE (@MythinformedMKE) March 15, 2022
“A missed opportunity for dialogue is a missed opportunity for conflict resolution. It’s as simple as that.” pic.twitter.com/wlUKVUARdR
One part of the discussion had Davis outlining his experiences on having debates with others on the Minds platform. While Rogan brings up how Davis convinced members of the KKK to change their viewpoints on race—as explored in his previous appearance—here the longtime activist refines his main point.
In explaining how a hypothetically intense discussion plays out, Davis highlights the importance of having the other person's "walls come down." That is to say, if Davis and a racist who hates black people can listen to each other's viewpoints, at all whatsoever, it can have a significant impact on the racist in the long run.
Internet entrepreneur and Minds CEO Bill Ottman builds off the "walls coming down" point by adding how neuroscientist Sam Harris previously studied people's actual brain waves with regards to how an individual subconsciously reacts to being presented with ideas or concepts they don't like.
The key to #ChangeMinds, according to Ottman and Davis, is building long-term relationships between people of opposing viewpoints as its own main objective.
In describing the research paper, Minds staffers stated that their "paper examines the adverse effects of social media censorship and proposes an alternative moderation model based on free speech and Internet freedom."
An excerpt from the paper's introduction says:
"The research found significant evidence that censorship and deplatforming can promote and amplify, rather than suppress, cognitive radicalization and even violent extremism. Shutting down accounts accused of violating hate-speech policies and misinformation often shifts those banned individuals to alternative platforms where their narrative of long-suffering victimhood is further refined."
Davis wrote in the foreword of the research paper about how the means of expressing opinions as a member of the general public has significantly evolved from the pre-Internet days. Davis urges that a further change in thinking is needed in the age of technological liberation for individualism.
The timing of the unveiling is relevant in the case of show host Rogan. The world's leading podcast program faced a cavalcade of censorship efforts by the far-left and corporate media who brigaded the Spotify platform and demanded they essentially "tame" Rogan's ability to discuss controversial topics freely, or outright ban him.
It was a debacle that amounted to Rogan being featured in an episode of "The Simpsons" that aired on Sunday and satirized cancel culture.
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