cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

More bias on the Oculus store

cybernettr
Superstar
Am I allowed to complain about something that appears on the oculus store and is actually promoted on the home screen, even though it might touch on something political? After all, if the app itself is political, and it appears on the home screen on my PC, then why is it not fair game to be talked about? I’m talking about the “Traveling While Black” experience. 

The description is:

“Traveling While Black is a cinematic VR experience that immerses the viewer in the long history of restriction of movement  for a black Americans and the creation of safe spaces  in our communities.”

Avoiding talking about the political merits of this experience (because I don’t want this post to get too political) is there anyone who would say that this experience does not align itself with the progressive train of thinking or the progressive point of view?  I certainly don’t think anyone would seriously argue that this experience aligns itself with a conservative agenda.

This leads to the question: why do we see apps that promote a politically liberal point of view on Oculus but not apps that promote an explicitly conservative point of view?  If you doubt this, please name a single app on the Oculus store that is clearly pushing a conservative political dogma or doctrine. Just one. 

 I’m sure I’ll hear the argument “Oh well, oculus doesn’t want to promote anything controversial, and anything relating to conservativism nowadays is considered controversial.” Really? So you’re saying one entire half of the political debate is now controversial or off-limits?  That is, it’s OK to promote one side of the political aisle but promoting the other side is “courting controversy?” Really?  This point of view will push us towards a one party system, otherwise known as a dictatorship. 

 I’m hearing that we’re supposed to be eliminating bias in artificial intelligence, eliminating bias in this and that. Well, this is a clear example of bias on the Oculus store.  Why is that all right? 
13 REPLIES 13

RattyUK
Trustee
Maybe not everyone using Oculus is an American?
It appears to be a historic narrative, no problem.
In my country we have multiple political parties so there is no "duality" as the USA nurtures...
PC info: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X - Sapphire 7900XTX - 32GB DDR4 4000 - 3 NVMe + 3SATA SSD - Quest 2 & 3

cybernettr
Superstar
RattyUK, your system is actually better than the American system in many ways. However, oculus is an American company based in the United States, so it is subject to American laws and standards. 

RattyUK
Trustee
Fair enough, cybernettr...
PC info: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X - Sapphire 7900XTX - 32GB DDR4 4000 - 3 NVMe + 3SATA SSD - Quest 2 & 3

Shadowmask72
Honored Visionary
I think you're perhaps reading into it too deeply. Its a historic piece in the same manner as Anne Frank House and Chernobyl experiences. The idea is to not necessarily to push any agenda but capture these important snippets of our human history in a relatively new medium. 


System Specs: MSI NVIDIA RTX 4090 , i5 13700K CPU, 32GB DDR 4 RAM, Win 11 64 Bit OS.

Anonymous
Not applicable

RattyUK said:

Maybe not everyone using Oculus is an American?
It appears to be a historic narrative, no problem.
In my country we have multiple political parties so there is no "duality" as the USA nurtures...



Technically that's true but we've only ever had one of two parties capable of winning an election, although that will most certainly change at the next one.

The way I judge anything that relates an historical experience is pretty simple (it needs to be as I'm pretty simple). If I deem the experience to be accurate, then it's an historical piece. If I think it's inaccurate, then it's either poorly researched or it's biased/propaganda and I'll give my reasons for arriving at that conclusion. If anyone thinks this particular experience is inaccurate, then I'd suggest that they do likewise and say what it get's wrong.

If however, someone doesn't like the experience based purely on the subject matter then that might point more towards bias or agenda in the person making that judgement.

As for American laws and standards are concerned, I don't think they're any different form the UK in relation to historical learning, or most other countries.

I'm avoiding politics and I'm not going to touch this thread if everyone does the same. I'm also of the opinion (as others have intimated) that there's really no politics involved in the experience, so politics is easy to avoid.

cybernettr
Superstar


The way I judge anything that relates an historical experience is pretty simple (it needs to be as I'm pretty simple). If I deem the experience to be accurate, then it's an historical piece. If I think it's inaccurate, then it's either poorly researched or it's biased/propaganda and I'll give my reasons for arriving at that conclusion. If anyone thinks this particular experience is inaccurate, then I'd suggest that they do likewise and say what it get's wrong.



I call total BS on that statement. Palmer Luckey was kicked out of oculus apparently for funding a pro conservative meme campaign (at least that was what was reported by all the news outlets at the time).  I didn’t hear a lot of calls to examine exactly what the campaign was posting and whether it was truthful or not. It was merely labeled “hate speech“ and that was enough to convince most people but it should be banned, or at least not funded.

Then Zuckerberg, in testifying before Congress, told Senator Ted Cruz that Palmer was not fired for political reasons. Then why were we told that by all the media outlets at the time? And if politics was not the reason, then what was? We were either lied to then or we’re being lied to now. 

 I can think of a lot of purely factual documentaries that would not be allowed because they would be called “insensitive,“ the catchall term to shut down anything that a certain side doesn’t want to hear. For example, an app on the violent background and tendencies of the Antifa movement is not something you’re likely to see on the Oculus store. 

Zenbane
MVP
MVP
@cybernettr hates another VR App? Must be worth a look. Downloading today!

Also, Palmer was the worst part of Oculus, and suffered multiple blunders in his short-lived career. He was fired for incompetence.

cybernettr
Superstar
Oculus wouldn’t be here without Palmer, but details, details.  

By the way, fired for incompetence? That’s not what you said at the time. You said he was this wild, hateful person who was sponsoring hate speech, yada yada yada.  You swallowed what you were told then and you’re swallowing it now.