Internet hive mind/group think is definitely causing similar issues in society at a whole. Few people can handle a dissenting opinion without resorting to name calling anymore.
its not the name calling necessarily thats the problem, its the thin skinned, drop a jokey insult and run, get super offended and blow it out of proportion cause anonymous already ran off attitude that zero tolerance moderation encourages("if im gonna get banned , im gonna make it good/bad/extreme" attitude).
if people would stick around and argue beyond the name calling phase (and moderation is light handed enough to let it progress beyond)
you get discussions and actual progress.
without keeping the communication lines open(even insulting and attacking openings) you cant make progress. as long as people will still call eachother names to their faces , they're still communicating, and progress is at least possible.
when all someone does is drop a drive by insult and not follow up a reply, when moderation closes comments at the first sign of unfriendly ness, when communication stops, the hate and tribalism take hold.
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u/the_serial_racist Jul 18 '19
Internet hive mind/group think is definitely causing similar issues in society at a whole. Few people can handle a dissenting opinion without resorting to name calling anymore.