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Comment by undefined3840 | Hacker News Reader

It seems like there are dozens of massive anti-government protests all over the world right now.

Was there a time where that wasn’t the case? It’s a genuine question. It could be that such situation has always been relatively common but that nowadays it is way easier to learn about it without explicitly looking for it. because of speed of information and the fact that everybody has a camera and platforms where to share their voice.

I mean social media is not new and don’t recall a time in the last 15 years or so when it seemed like there were so many happening simultaneously

Events I personally remember from the past ~10 years:

- arabic spring, ~2011, ~6 countries (from memory: morocco, egypt, tunisia, yemen, lybia, syria), all in the same year

- major greek protests (I believe 2009 or 2010, may be earlier)

- ukranian revolution (~2014 IIRC)

- major protests in Turkey around 2013

- big protests in the US (Ferguson was around 2014 I think?)

- massive protests in Spain in 2017

- protests in Thailand before and after the military coup of 2014

A quick google search gives me a list of "crisis situations in Europe since 2000" with some dates https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_situations_and_unrest_i... . That's only for the small part of the world I'm the more familiar with.

Key word is simultaneously.

Sure, check a bit the dates I mentioned. If you look for big civilian protests worldwide in let's say 2011 or 2014 you will se a lot of things happening during the same year. Of course it depends what you consider to be simultaneous or not. My point is that it isnt clear to me that the current situation is unique. I feel that we are pretty bad at remembering the zeitgeist from the past. But I only have a limited knowledge of protests and conflicts around the world, I m sure that I missed a lot of things happening.

Algorithmic echo chambers are a new development.

Social media is not new.

Yes but be careful with what's reported on the internet. There are no massive protests going on in Brazil right now despite Amnesty International tweeting about it:

https://twitter.com/amnesty/status/1187687335892271105

archived: http://archive.md/VZ450

edit: Some people disagree but wont post their rationale. You're invited to point out reports of massive protests in Brazil right now. Because there's none.

Honestly, I held HN to a higher standard than just silent downvotes.

> Honestly, I held HN to a higher standard than just silent downvotes.

"Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading."[0]

[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

I had the feeling this would be the only reply.

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