*** THREAD ***

Accuracy or Entertainment, Which Do You Prefer?

The Importance of Listening to Experts

1/

As you no doubt already know, Twitter is a vast universe of unbridled lunacy.

The most obnoxious and incorrect voices are often amplified, while the truth is drowned out, stifled, then beaten to death through groupthink, and mass pile-ons.

2/
I am not an expert in Active Measures, Information Warfare, Geopolitics or Counterintelligence.

I'm a student, loosely.

But there ARE experts and I have always tried to point my followers to them.

3/
Today, I have an opportunity to show you the difference between an actual intelligence expert with years of experience and a Twitter personality with zero intelligence creds, so that you may see the difference.

Let's compare...

4/
This take comes from a foreigner, who is not even an American citizen, with zero intelligence credentials.

I daresay it IS entertaining.

But, alas, it isn't accurate, which I will soon show you.

https://t.co/zsgIyHNooc

5/
Here is an article on the same topic, from Dr. John Schindler, a former NSA Intelligence Analyst and Naval War College professor, who also has many years experience in Counterintelligence.

https://t.co/WEbJMvW8UH

6/
Declaring the actions of a hostile intelligence service an "Act of War" is no small thing.

While such a characterization may be entirely innocent, the net result is that potentially 300,000 Twitter followers have been unnecessarily whipped into a frenzy over a few words.

7/
Let's take another look at what the intelligence expert has to say...

This is IMPORTANT, because it means something entirely different...calls for an entirely different response...

8/
And accuracy warrants the accolades of OTHER experts.

Here's the response to John's article and expertise, from General Michael Hayden, the only man to have served as Director of both the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency.

9/
We must, MUST follow experts if we want to get it right.

Twitter personality cults are fun entertainment, particularly because they tell us what we want to hear.

But choosing to listen to them over experts, ultimately, isolates us from the truth.

10/
If you don't already subscribe, I highly recommend considering a subscription to John Schindler's Substack account.

It's the best intelligence expertise you'll find, for normies like us.

https://t.co/aHxbpfSJ0f

11/
Understand CLICKBAIT when you see it.

Don't fall for the fear-mongering.

12/

@threadreaderapp compile please

More from For later read

Humans inherently like the act of solidarity. We are social beings. We like to huddle up and be together.
They used this against us.
They convinced us that it was an act of solidarity to flatten the curve, to wear a mask for others, to take the vaccines for others,


and to reach #covidzero for others. They convinced us that this was for the greater good of society.
In reality, this couldn't be further away from the truth. They have divided us and broken the core structure of our society. They have dehumanized us with their masks.

They set us against each other into clans on opposite sides of a spectrum. They have turned us into aggressive beings fighting for our survival. Some of us fear harm from the virus, others fear harm from the vaccine, and yet others fear harm from the attack on our civilization.

We are all on a flight or fight mode. We are all operating under the influence of fear. We must collect ourselves and reflect on what has happened over the last year.
How is this for the greater good of society?

They used a tactical warfare strategy against us.
'Divide and conquer'.
We fell for it.
Now we must become aware of it and fight back.
We must reunite. We must find true solidarity to save our world. To free ourselves. To regain our autonomy.
This response to my tweet is a common objection to targeted advertising.

@KevinCoates correct me if I'm wrong, but basic point seems to be that banning targeted ads will lower platform profits, but will mostly be beneficial for consumers.

Some counterpoints 👇


1) This assumes that consumers prefer contextual ads to targeted ones.

This does not seem self-evident to me


Research also finds that firms choose between ad. targeting vs. obtrusiveness 👇

If true, the right question is not whether consumers prefer contextual ads to targeted ones. But whether they prefer *more* contextual ads vs *fewer* targeted

2) True, many inframarginal platforms might simply shift to contextual ads.

But some might already be almost indifferent between direct & indirect monetization.

Hard to imagine that *none* of them will respond to reduced ad revenue with actual fees.

3) Policy debate seems to be moving from:

"Consumers are insufficiently informed to decide how they share their data."

To

"No one in their right mind would agree to highly targeted ads (e.g., those that mix data from multiple sources)."

IMO the latter statement is incorrect.

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The first ever world map was sketched thousands of years ago by Indian saint
“Ramanujacharya” who simply translated the following verse from Mahabharat and gave the world its real face

In Mahabharat,it is described how 'Maharishi Ved Vyasa' gave away his divine vision to Sanjay


Dhritarashtra's charioteer so that he could describe him the events of the upcoming war.

But, even before questions of war could begin, Dhritarashtra asked him to describe how the world looks like from space.

This is how he described the face of the world:

सुदर्शनं प्रवक्ष्यामि द्वीपं तु कुरुनन्दन। परिमण्डलो महाराज द्वीपोऽसौ चक्रसंस्थितः॥
यथा हि पुरुषः पश्येदादर्शे मुखमात्मनः। एवं सुदर्शनद्वीपो दृश्यते चन्द्रमण्डले॥ द्विरंशे पिप्पलस्तत्र द्विरंशे च शशो महान्।

—वेद व्यास, भीष्म पर्व, महाभारत


Meaning:-

हे कुरुनन्दन ! सुदर्शन नामक यह द्वीप चक्र की भाँति गोलाकार स्थित है, जैसे पुरुष दर्पण में अपना मुख देखता है, उसी प्रकार यह द्वीप चन्द्रमण्डल में दिखायी देता है। इसके दो अंशो मे पीपल और दो अंशो मे विशाल शश (खरगोश) दिखायी देता है।


Meaning: "Just like a man sees his face in the mirror, so does the Earth appears in the Universe. In the first part you see leaves of the Peepal Tree, and in the next part you see a Rabbit."

Based on this shloka, Saint Ramanujacharya sketched out the map, but the world laughed