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Politically-engaged Redditors tend to be more toxic -- even in non-political subreddits
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this post was submitted on 11 Dec 2023
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I've never had someone who is arguing with me on the internet change my mind.
Have any of your views changed as you learned new things?
Of course, but some keyboard warrior shouting at me in the comments never has.
My experience has been that people on the Internet don't try to teach you new things. They just attack your person, make unsubstantiated claims, or make overly broad references like "go read a book." Even when you just ask questions without making any claims of your own, they will assume that you're implying some disagreement with them instead of taking the question at face value. It's extremely frustrating.
Yes. A lot of folk are unfamiliar with critical thinking processes, and are glad to adhere to positions that affirm their base prejudices. Especially when FOX News or OAN main a broadcast itinerary of affirming culture-war rhetoric. Curiously no one pretends FOX or OAN are trustworthy sources, even for uncontroversial news stories.
But that isn't everybody on the internet, and I think the dialog is improved by those willing to counter assertions contrary to facts, and generalizations based on stereotypes and hate rhetoric. We're not just arguing with a frightened bigot, but telling every marginalized soul reading they are seen, and they are valid.
And yes, it can be extremely frustrating given we only see resistance to the end of every exchange. We never see the moment of revelation from resistance to doubt from apathy to empathy. The human brain takes time to change its mind, to notice the leopard bites in nearby faces, to see how justifications are dangerous when applied to people they actually care about. We all have a mother in Hackensack, New Jersey.
Yes, I did not mean to give the impression that it is everybody on the internet. There has even been a couple of times after arguing for a while that people have come off the spell and literally said something like "I thought you were just a troll, I didn't understand you were asking the question genuinely". But these are exceptions, unfortunately. I wish good faith was the norm.