I spent almost a week wading though the hate, lies and propaganda on the social networking site Parler in the aftermath of the 2020 election. Why would I subject myself to this? you might be asking. Am I that much of a glutton for punishment? No. I did it so you don’t have to or at least so you know what you’re getting yourself into if you make the move to Parler from Facebook or Twitter. Since Twitter began fact checking President Donald Trump, much to the chagrin of many of his supporters, conservatives have been flocking in droves to Parler. The site is essentially a Twitter clone that bills itself as a “free speech social network.” The site is being billed as a Facebook or Twitter replacement for good, sound minded, hardworking conservatives. It’s not. It is a hotbed of radicals who want nothing more than to radicalize you too. Don’t be fooled. The problem here is not with the conservative slant of the site. There’s nothing wrong with that. The problem is the Nazis and conspiracy theorists. Or as Bill Gates put it during an online forum Tuesday, “It’s a choice you’re making. If you want Holocaust denial, it’s going to be great for you.”
Yes, legitimate conservative commentators and lawmakers use this website to offer insight, but so do actual white supremacists and other extremists. Within 24 hours of signing up, Parler recommended pro-Nazi content to me. More legitimate users could cut down on Nazi content, but that’s unlikely. Say, for instance, you have a favorite coffee shop where you meet on Sunday afternoons with friends, family or church members. One weekend, you find the shop has been allowing Nazis to meet in the back room. Do you stop going there? Do you check out the Nazi meeting? Do you ignore the Nazis and go about your normal routine? Do you tell everyone you go to the Nazi coffee shop? Parler is a coffee shop with a sign on the door saying “Nazis welcome.” The site recommends content with hashtags — this thing # — followed by trendy keywords or phrases. The more you click that content, the more similar recommendations the site gives. It’s a never-ending rabbit hole where the user is fed an endless string of rotten carrots dangling from the ends of sticks.
via dailysentinel: Parler is filled with coffee shop talk for Nazis