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Politically-engaged Redditors tend to be more toxic -- even in non-political subreddits (www.psypost.org)
submitted 2 years ago by [M, B] to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Politically-engaged Redditors tend to be more toxic -- even in non-political subreddits::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.

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[–] 16 points 2 years ago (1 child)

I'm political as fuck.¹ While I try not to be toxic, I will sometimes call out aberrant opinions or counterfactual assumptions when I see them and that can lead to toxic exchanges.

So, yeah, I think the virtue of having strong opinions about things controversial is going to inspire heated exchanges more frequently.

¹ Sex in the US is very political right now.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    I will sometimes call out aberrant opinions or counterfactual assumptions when I see them

    But why though? You're not going to change anybody mind online.

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  • [–] 14 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Because people other than the two arguing read that and learn things. If someone states factually wrong or hurtful information about, say, trans people, I would rather they be corrected than someone think that trans people are anything other than human beings being human beings from that prior comment.

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  • [–] -1 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    OK this to me is the perfect example. You say trans people are human. (a sentiment which i agree with BTW). How has you arguing with someone online changed ANY off the current anti trans bills out there?

    Instead of arguing online and accomplishing nothing maybe instead you should be doing real work in the real work to stop that from happening.

    But no, people will bitch and complain online, and then throw there hands up in the air and say "well at least I tried." when nothing changes.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    So, are you suggesting that people aren't allowed to complain about things, are you suggesting that complaining about things cannot be done in tandom with works that better the lives of trans, or are you suggesting that people that actually want trans people to have better lives don't get to complain about things? Because every one of those implications are dumb as shit, especially if you have any historical knowledge of civil rights movements.

    No, instead you've taken a stance historically used to oppress civil rights movements, using a false dilemma to essentially proport that one cannot talk about the issue because that is wasting time not doing some unknown thing about it.

    And by virtue of your own post, why are you arguing with people about people arguing instead of helping trans people get the rights they deserve?

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  • [–] 12 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    You never changed your mind because of something you read online?

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I've never had someone who is arguing with me on the internet change my mind.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Have any of your views changed as you learned new things?

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  • [–] -1 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    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.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    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.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago

    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.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Open-minded people learn and change their opinion when presented with facts and discussions

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