美国国家公共电台 NPR Feeling Sidelined By Mainstream Social Media, Far-Right Users Jump To Gab

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

A new social network has grown quietly in recent months. It's called Gab¹, and its users are invited to speak freely and appeal attractive to many members of the far-right and others who feel their views are stifled² by mainstream³ sites like Twitter and Facebook. NPR's Alina Selyukh reports.

ALINA SELYUKH, BYLINE⁴: The first time I heard about Gab was in a video by Richard Spencer. He is a white nationalist, a major alt-right figure. In November, he got suspended from Twitter and talked about it on YouTube.

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RICHARD SPENCER: To be honest, I don't know what I'm going to do. There's obviously Gab, which is an interesting medium. I signed up for it. I haven't done much of anything there. I think that will be the place where we go next.

SELYUKH: At the time, Gab was only a few weeks old and invitation only, a brainchild of a young CEO in a make America great again hat taking on what he calls the big social with a motto - free speech for everyone. Here he is, Andrew Torba, in a recent GabTV livestream.

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ANDREW TORBA: You go to Facebook, you go to Twitter, you know, you go to Google, they're all powered by advertisers, so they're all beholden to advertisers. That's why you see a lot of the censorship going on.

SELYUKH: Torba pitches Gab as a refuge from the liberal bias⁵ of the mainstream sites. As Facebook and Twitter try to clean up content and misinformation, Gab argues people should be able to post whatever they want as long as it's legal.

So the address is gab.ai, and it prompts me to sign in, which I will do.

I've been on Gab for about a month, and it's now open to anyone. It sort of combines Twitter, Reddit and Facebook. You can follow people and re-post or comment on anything anywhere. There are permanent categories like cuisine⁶ or sports and sort of trending ones. Some of the posts are benign⁷ and others are racist⁸ and disturbing.

Old school cool. Let's check out that one. There's that weird⁹ image of a rabbit that also looks like a duck. Some images of IBM computers from the '70s. This looks like a postcard with black people eating watermelon. A ton of photos of classic cars. Lots of music from Blondie. Photos of young Clint Eastwood, Audrey Hepburn. I'm not sure who that is. Here's an image of some klansmen, including what look like children, wearing hoods¹⁰ in a field.

Of course, you don't have to follow white supremacists or conspiracy¹¹ theorists. Gab lets users mute whatever they want. But this is the site in the wild - a chicken recipe, a prayer in support of President Trump¹², then a startling image, then a dog video. And everywhere, a tremendous amount of debate over news.

RYAN DONKER: Well, it's a bit more Wild West-ish I guess I would say than Twitter or any of the other platforms.

SELYUKH: This is Ryan Donker. I originally saw him posting in the science topics on Gab and later followed him on Twitter.

Your Internet handle is TruckDrivingRyan, and you actually drive trucks for a living.

DONKER: Yes, I actually do, 18-wheelers.

SELYUKH: When I reached him on the phone, Donker was actually in his truck at a terminal in between assignments.

DONKER: Supporting the backbone¹³ of America (laughter).

SELYUKH: Donker describes himself as libertarian. He says Trump is better than Hillary Clinton, but he doesn't always agree with the president. Donker is also openly gay. His partner is an immigrant. On Gab, he says he's faced off with a few haters but that's what he likes about it - people, laid bare.

DONKER: You know, this social media starts as a place to be free and open and share a bunch of thoughts and ideas all willy-nilly is the way it should be. I don't want you to feed me. I want a buffet¹⁴ where I can pick what I want. I don't want an algorithm to control my news feed. I want to decide for myself.

SELYUKH: The site's founder¹⁵ says more than 170,000 people are now on Gab, and the site is funded by contributions from users. It's got an app for Android, but Apple continues to reject Gab from its app store over the site's content. Alina Selyukh, NPR News.

1 gab   

v.空谈，唠叨，瞎扯；n.饶舌，多嘴，爱说话

参考例句：

• The young man had got the gift of gab.那个年轻小贩能说会道。
• She has the gift of the gab.她口才很好。

2 stifled   

（使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵

参考例句：

• The gas stifled them. 煤气使他们窒息。
• The rebellion was stifled. 叛乱被镇压了。

3 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

6 cuisine   

n.烹调，烹饪法

参考例句：

• This book is the definitive guide to world cuisine.这本书是世界美食的权威指南。
• This restaurant is renowned for its cuisine.这家餐馆以其精美的饭菜而闻名。

7 benign   

adj.善良的，慈祥的；良性的，无危险的

参考例句：

• The benign weather brought North America a bumper crop.温和的气候给北美带来大丰收。
• Martha is a benign old lady.玛莎是个仁慈的老妇人。

8 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

9 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

10 hoods   

n.兜帽( hood的名词复数 )；头巾；（汽车、童车等的）折合式车篷；汽车发动机罩v.兜帽( hood的第三人称单数 )；头巾；（汽车、童车等的）折合式车篷；汽车发动机罩

参考例句：

• Michael looked at the four hoods sitting in the kitchen. 迈克尔瞅了瞅坐在厨房里的四条汉子。 来自教父部分
• Eskimos wear hoods to keep their heads warm. 爱斯基摩人戴兜帽使头暖和。 来自辞典例句

11 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

12 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

13 backbone   

n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气

参考例句：

• The Chinese people have backbone.中国人民有骨气。
• The backbone is an articulate structure.脊椎骨是一种关节相连的结构。

14 buffet   

n.自助餐；饮食柜台；餐台

参考例句：

• Are you having a sit-down meal or a buffet at the wedding?你想在婚礼中摆桌宴还是搞自助餐？
• Could you tell me what specialties you have for the buffet?你能告诉我你们的自助餐有什么特色菜吗？

15 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。