What is "FUD"?
What is "FUD"?
People use it like everyone fucking has the innate knowledge of every acronym out there
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53 comments
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Here's an example. Let's say that you don't know how open source works, and I told you the following:
Why are you in Lemmy? It's open source so any hacker can screw with it, and infect your computer with viruses. You'll never know, right?
That's FUD: fear, uncertainty, and doubt. It's a disingenuous tactic to convince you to not do something, based on the following:
- You fear a certain outcome. In this case, a computer virus.
- That fear is vaguely associated with something that is uncertain for you. In this case, how a hacker could use Lemmy to inject viruses into your computer.
- The odds of that outcome happening are doubtful; it may happen, it may not, otherwise you could call me out for not happening. In this case, even if you don't get a virus from using Lemmy, I can still say "well, some people get it, some don't, but let's play it safe and avoid Lemmy."
This shitty strategy is fairly used in the tech industry because most people are clueless about tech, but they know that it has a big impact on their lives. However you'll also see this in politics, religious debate (Pascal's Wager is FUD), and others.
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Literally all VPN sponsored segments on YouTube.
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Yup. There are reasons to use a VPN, mind you; but they involve the person actually knowing the risk, when it applies, and taking a cost vs. risk judgment. The FUD in those sponsors is basically "you don't know so you might be at risk, subscribe to our VPN juuuuust in case".
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They straight out lie in those ads though. Like for example VPNs don't protect your privacy at all when you're browsing. Just because it says private in their name doesn't mean you're anonymous. Cookies and trackers work all the same via a VPN.
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Or the biggest thing people forget, being logged in.
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That's an exaggeration though, most of them are coming at you with the 'hey! You can watch netflix germany now!" rather than 'hackers are coming to get you'
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Yeah they have all kinda changed their tune after Tom Scott came out saying they were all straight out lies. https://youtu.be/WVDQEoe6ZWY?si=Gnrk4Bx1kdFQStJP
After this video I could tell you tubers changed their ads. They still lie, but much less.
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I'd say the 'D' (hah!) is more about making you doubt your position or thoughts on the matter. In your example, it'd make you doubt your choice to try using Lemmy, because of the fear and uncertainty.
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It's part of the short and distort tactic too, https://realpeoples.media/the-basics-on-cointelpro-and-how-to-counter-it/
I feel like tesla uses it to fight against Unions in Sweden
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This shitty strategy is fairly used in the tech industry because most people are clueless about tech
Ah, so like every manager and client to ever exist in software development. I see
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I think the D stands for 'Division'. Divide groups with infighting such as wedge issues.
Uncertainty and doubt are synonymous.
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Canonically the "D" in the acronym is understood as "doubt", as you can see here, here (2 of 2), here. Division and infighting play no direct role here.
Uncertainty and doubt are synonymous.
They do overlap but complete synonymous are extremely rare. And I believe that, in this context, they refer to different things - the uncertainty as lack of knowledge on how something works, and the doubt on the outcome itself. (@DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.com offers an alternate explanation, where the doubt is ideological.)
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53 comments