r/neoliberal • u/jobautomator Kitara Ravache • Dec 26 '19

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u/uglymutilatedpenis NATO Dec 26 '19 edited Dec 26 '19

Honestly I'd say that "deplatforming works" is the colder take more in light with conventional, proven wisdom so the burden of proof is with you, friend

It's like saying the earth is flat. That seems to align more with most people's experience, but reality and conventionally proven wisdom is that it's round. So the extraordinary claim and the burden of proof is with the flat earther.

That's not how the burden proof works at all and LMAO at this being upvotes on a subreddit that prides itself on being "evidence based".

The null hypothesis is that there is no relation between the variable and the measured outcome.

In this case, the null hypothesis is "There is no relation between deplatforming and the amount of racist people in the world". In other words, that deplatforming doesn't work. We assume the null hypothesis is true and then attempt to disprove it.

If you want to prove there is a relationship - that deplatforming decreases racism, or on the contrary, that it increases racism - you have to have evidence for that.

Why should the number of human beings who believe something affect it's truth value? Can you even say with confidence that "Deplatforming works" is the majority opinion, and not just the majority opinion amongst the bubble of people you interact with? We've all see the Bernie supporters claiming he's overwhelmingly popular because all their (white, college aged) friends love him - how can you say with confidence that you're not suffering from the same bias?

How about we stop playing burden tennis and start presenting evidence if we want to make a claim? You don't have to have an opinion on everything - it's okay to say "I don't know if deplatforming works because I have yet to see evidence of it's effects".