LOL!
Posted on 03/17/2018 6:29:36 PM PDT by Simon Green
YouTube Kids, the supposedly child-friendly version of YouTube that’s been shown to often play host to troves of slop content and disturbing videos, apparently was showing videos from British conspiracy theorist David Icke, a guy who believes reptilian aliens secretly control the world and are responsible for the Holocaust.
According to a Saturday report in Business Insider, searching for the term “UFO” on YouTube kids turned up a video purporting “to show a UFO shooting at a chemtrail.” The suggested followups for that video featured a number of Icke’s clips, including a nearly five-hour lecture on how aliens built the pyramids and secretly run the planet through a ruling class extraterrestrial-human hybrids. The video also delves into a number of other conspiracy theories, including claims Freemasons indulge in human sacrifice and President John F. Kennedy was assassinated by his own government.
According to Business Insider, “Two other conspiracy theory videos by Icke appeared in the related videos, meaning it was easy for children to quickly go from watching relatively innocent videos about toys to conspiracy content.”
Searching for the term “moon landing” also resulted in a number of conspiratorial videos emerging, including one making the claim that CERN’s Large Hadron Collider had opened a portal to another world that an unfortunate employee then vanished in. While YouTube removed 25 videos specifically flagged by Business Insider, the site reported conspiracy content remains widely available on YouTube Kids and watching some of the videos resulted in others showing up in the app’s recommended video queue.
While the regular version of YouTube has its own problems with propaganda and disinformation (some of which, like videos blasting mass shooting survivors as “crisis actors,” have repeatedly made the site’s top page), YouTube Kids is ostensibly supposed to be totally free of this kind of content. It’s also likely that many parents are letting their kids watch it unattended, which may be ill-advised on the parents’ part, but is clearly part of the site’s business model.
YouTube has previously promised to clear out this kind of content, and shut down a number of channels featuring inappropriate videos starting last year. It’s debatable whether it’s actually possible to ensure this stuff doesn’t begin creeping in, though, since there are millions upon millions of videos intended for children available on both the main site and YouTube Kids, and YouTube and its parent company Google tend to rely first and foremost on algorithms to police this sea of content rather than human moderators. When it began paying attention in November 2017, YouTube demonetized at least two million videos and 50,000 channels with disturbing content aimed at kids, suggesting the scale of the problem whichever app is used.
In a statement to Business Insider, YouTube even alluded to how solutions to this problem rely on its “human trained systems” rather than actual humans:
The YouTube Kids app is home to a wide variety of content that includes enriching and entertaining videos for families. This content is screened using human trained systems. That being said, no system is perfect and sometimes we miss the mark. When we do, we take immediate action to block the videos or, as necessary, channels from appearing in the app. We will continue to work to improve the YouTube Kids app experience.
In any case, prior advice stands: Don’t let YouTube babysit your children unless you want them watching disturbing Spiderman-bikini girl mashups, videos of Peppa Pig being fed bleach, or apparently, elderly British men telling them that the government is secretly staffed by alien lizard monsters wearing human ski
“This week ran into a special ed teacher who told me the kids with more screen kids have a lower IQ. Yikes.”
But which way does the causality run? Are they dumber because of screen time, or do they accumulate screen time because they are dumb?
One of his very best.
Is valjar really a man?
Valerie Jarrett sure as heck looks reptilian.
What is a shame is that neither case has to be true. Kids have access to a virtual library of knowledge at their fingertips.
A massive tool. For good or bad. Like guns, it's not the guns, it's how you use them.
Holy crap. Warn us next time. LOL
I remember fifty years ago SCIENCE AND MECHANICS magazine had a series of articles on how the Russian men into space photos were fake.
“A massive tool. For good or bad. Like guns, it’s not the guns, it’s how you use them.”
Perhaps I’m deficient, but I had to learn how to learn. I wouldn’t have been able to educate myself from the Internet when I was young.
Maybe it’s asking too much of most people. Maybe most young people need teachers.
Too bad our schools don’t have any.
YouTube, hrrrmph!
When I was a lad, if you wanted to see a reptilian you had do it in person!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capricorn_One
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Side_of_the_Moon_(film)
https://www.space.com/34090-operation-avalanche-fake-moon-landing-film.html
Nor did they claim we faked it nine times. :^) Those lizard bastards must have taken control of the USSR!!!
IMHO, I think there’s a way to reach these young mush headed Conspiracy nuts.
For what it’s worth.
1. They are prone to believe they are not being told the truth by the Media, Gov’t, and corporations.
2. They are, for the most part, seeking the truth.
If we can carefully introduce the concept that it’s in fact the Left, the progressives, that are conspiring to keep the truth from them, their heads will explode if they are honest.
I understand that the last thing these nuts want is for their worldview to be overturned or even challenged. This is why they cut off any and all discussion from those with opposing views. They’ve moved beyond the killing the message, because they can’t, to killing the messenger.
I believe that a handful of very clever, anonymous messengers can craft a variety of themes/concepts that get these nuts to actually think and explore for the truth.
LOL!
I was not meaning to imply that young people should rely on the internet for all their educational needs. What a disaster that would be.
What I was trying to communicate was that children NOW have a virtual world library instantly available at their fingertips.
Instead of spending 2 hours going to a library and coming out with one book that they have to spend another 2 hours reading through to even see if it answers their questions, they can do it in 60 seconds on their smartphone or computer.
BUT... they have to be ASKING questions, which comes from being challenged by teachers.
I disagree with you on that statement.
You are born with the ability to learn.
But having the ability does not mean you necessarily use it.
A good teacher knows they cannot TEACH a child anything.
What they can do is encourage a child to LEARN (as you said).
“I disagree with you on that statement. You are born with the ability to learn.”
When we talk about Dunning Kruger around here, we’re usually talking about dummies thinking they are smart. However, there’s a flip side. “Conversely, highly competent individuals may erroneously assume that tasks easy for them to perform are also easy for other people to perform, or that other people will have a similar understanding of subjects that they themselves are well-versed in.”
Perhaps what you say is true for you, but maybe not for everyone. Or there might be a difference between having the innate ability to learn, and being able to put it into practice. Or maybe I’m using the wrong terminology to describe my personal experience.
When taught in the classroom, I was able to learn things like the multiplication tables and state capitols, but if someone had said to fourth-grade me, “There’s the library; go teach yourself geometry,” I wouldn’t have been able to do it. I’d have needed a teacher.
After the experience I describe as “learning how to learn,” I can teach myself anything that is not beyond my native intelligence. Smarter people can teach themselves things I can’t. Maybe that’s a capability that you have always had, but I had to learn it.
“I was not meaning to imply that young people should rely on the internet for all their educational needs.”
I did not intend to ascribe such an extreme position to you. Sorry if it came across that way.
After a certain point, though, it seems like we should be able to give a high-schooler a stack of books and tell him to come back in three months prepared for written and oral exams. Not in every case or for every subject, probably, but at least to some extent.
An adolescent still requires a certain amount of discipline and needs help in establishing purposeful habits.
“An adolescent still requires a certain amount of discipline and needs help in establishing purposeful habits.”
Most do. I should tell you about my oldest daughter some time.
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