A new study links partisan activity on the Internet to widespread online toxicity, revealing that politically-engaged users exhibit uncivil behavior even in non-political discussions. The findings are based on an analysis of hundreds of millions of comments from over 6.3 million Reddit users.
To some people, aborting a 3 week old fetus is murder. Because their religion goes even further and says a guy jacking off is mass murder because that “seed” should only be used for heterosexual sex that would result in a child. Which makes them incredibly hypocritical, but they’re used to that
To others it’s just a clump of cells with zero brain activity growing in a women’s body and she decides if she wants to let it grow.
Both sides see the other as evil and obviously wrong.
Which is why it’s been a “wedge issue” for decades. Both parties can cater to corporations and the wealthy, and disagree on stuff like this that makes it so a large segment of the population never agrees with the other on who to vote for, and both parties can agree on stuff like how little taxes the wealthy have to pay while still presenting themselves as opposites.
It is, however, very important to note that when one side starts treating politics like it IS blood sport (I.e. populism), it’s genuinely difficult to push things in a positive direction by taking the “high road”.
More specifically, the paradox of tolerance is very much a factor here. Regressive and reactionary groups absolutely abuse the system as it exists today with the intent of fully corrupting and controlling it in the future.
Understand what bad-faith arguments look like, and the ways that they are often presented as “reasonable discourse”. When you see someone engaging in such disingenuous tactics online, consider dropping some bait to see whether or not they show more of their bad-faith hand; if they do, go (rhetorical) weapons free.
A bit of nuance the headline misses:
You can be politically engaged without treating politics as a knock-about blood-sport.
It’s also important to look at those positions.
Like, abortion.
To some people, aborting a 3 week old fetus is murder. Because their religion goes even further and says a guy jacking off is mass murder because that “seed” should only be used for heterosexual sex that would result in a child. Which makes them incredibly hypocritical, but they’re used to that
To others it’s just a clump of cells with zero brain activity growing in a women’s body and she decides if she wants to let it grow.
Both sides see the other as evil and obviously wrong.
Which is why it’s been a “wedge issue” for decades. Both parties can cater to corporations and the wealthy, and disagree on stuff like this that makes it so a large segment of the population never agrees with the other on who to vote for, and both parties can agree on stuff like how little taxes the wealthy have to pay while still presenting themselves as opposites.
It is, however, very important to note that when one side starts treating politics like it IS blood sport (I.e. populism), it’s genuinely difficult to push things in a positive direction by taking the “high road”.
More specifically, the paradox of tolerance is very much a factor here. Regressive and reactionary groups absolutely abuse the system as it exists today with the intent of fully corrupting and controlling it in the future.
Understand what bad-faith arguments look like, and the ways that they are often presented as “reasonable discourse”. When you see someone engaging in such disingenuous tactics online, consider dropping some bait to see whether or not they show more of their bad-faith hand; if they do, go (rhetorical) weapons free.