# Wiki Tutorial
## Friday, January 12
[***Agnotology and Epistemological Fragmentation* by danah boyd**](https://medium.com/datasociety-points/agnotology-and-epistemological-fragmentation-56aa3c509c6b)

The words "[agnotology](https://www.google.com/search?q=agnotology+definition)" and "[epistemological](https://www.google.com/search?q=epistemological+definition) fragmentation" would never have entered my vocabulary before reading danah boyd's *Agnotology and Epistemological Fragmentation,* (and Google searching the definitions of these words.) Part of why language is such a valuable tool is because we have words like these, with such specific, nuanced definitions, that bring attention to complex issues in our world.

danah boyd's article discusses the ways in which social media algorithms can be exploited to plant seeds of ignorance into the minds of its users, reinforcing harmful and oppressive systems of power. The article cites various examples -- from "recommended videos" on Youtube to terrorists on 8chan -- explaining the pipeline through which users are indoctrinated into detrimental ideologies. What starts as purposeful misinformation becomes reality to the misled, creating communities that grow around these harmful ideas.

<iframe width="500" height="281.3" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dV6kAhqG02Y" title="alt-right pipeline speedrun" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Having spent time on different online platforms, I have encountered some of these hate groups. Incels on Reddit (and other forum-posting sites) are a well-known example, and outsiders are often confounded at how people could truly fall into the beliefs incels espouse. Many incel "recruits" are bullied, and struggle with mental health issues which leave them vulnerable to ideologies such as the [black pill](https://www.newamerica.org/political-reform/reports/misogynist-incels-and-male-supremacism/red-pill-to-black-pill/). Without support to ground users in reality, many fall further into delusion by engaging with these groups, which mask themselves as support systems for the lonely and ostracized. While incels may be victims of their own ideology, they are also perpetrators, advocating violence and hate against others.


While internet use is not the sole cause of such issues, without a balance of real-world experience, and healthy support systems, people can lose their ability to distinguish between the rhetoric of online forums and real-world evidence: this is the danger of online agnotology.