Nature: Long online discussions are consistently the most toxic

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Really? I stand corrected than. I always thought those were like, his enemies talking about him and not what they actually did.

You were correct. It was the lesser lights talking about him, not what he actually did.

Interfering with the rights of others is what George Wallace and Ross Barnett did.

Of course, we're getting into meatspace here. For the original subject (online discussion) I would classify two types of content as toxic: Ad hominem attacks, and hate/bigotry.
 
It's your moral imperative to be a dick online? Is that what activism and heroism means these days. No wonder the world is f-ed.
If you think I'm being a dick with my posts on this forum than I'd say you are too sensitive to be online at all.

The irony of this reaction while many of the same types of us went out on the streets during BLM and as many of us are going out now in protest of genocide and US complicity in genocide is not lost on me...

We post our grievances, gather polls showing we have the popular support, and it is ignored, we move into the streets to protest because obviously civil discourse is not enough to stop the outrages of this and other governments we support... and we are terrorists... we can never win, thus toxicity and yes eventually violence will happen.

The world is f-ed up because good men do not do enough to stop evil men from wrecking everything good and wonderful in the world. (another right-wing idea I was raised on that literally fits better the farther left wing one is when it comes to community and public policy)
 
The fun fact (and the reason why such long thread exists and end up toxic) is that the other guy thinks exactly the same, but the other way around.
Trying to find who is actually right rather than who is shouting the loudest is the hard part.
Is it? Or is it jsut the confused and complicit versus those pushing for change and trying to be better... I'm jsut constantly pushing that live up to our own purported values... but property rights seem to usurp all the others up to and including, life and liberty, fudging forget justice...
 
Toxicity is bad because once a discussion is toxic, it is pointless and harmful - toxic - to anyone involved. It would be better if the discussion did not exist. Thefore, the only sensible reaction is to disengage. Do it too often and you will get ignored by sensible people. And if no one reads what you write, why bother typing it in the first place?
This is literally a tactic as old as time utilized constantly by reactionaries to shut down any discussion... You should watch Cable News and Network News with a more critical eye... They do this as easy as they breath.
 
I believe the point Estebonrober is getting at is that things that are deemed "toxic" aren't always actually toxic - they arise from longstanding disagreements turned uncivil. Anger can be righteous, instead of just being plain wrong. But this is thrown under "toxic" more often than not. People will also use "toxic" when they actually mean "attitudes I personally disagree with" (I don't think Este is doing this, but it 100% happens when people want to shut down arguments, all over the Internet). The job of moderation (getting a bit meta here) is to work out where the line is in any given topic. Users are human beings, nobody is a purely-rational robot, and we all step over lines in good or bad faith.

It's easy to say "the only sensible reaction is to disengage", but if that gives others free reign over a topic, it isn't actually always the best course of action if the communal space in question is of value and worth preserving.
In the immortalized words of a 90s band, "Anger is a Gift"
 
In fairness to Malcom X, his rhetoric was polemic, but he didn't commit arson and murder. He didn't block the schoolhouse door to deny Jews their right to attend class. He didn't engage in gang beatdowns of people for any reason at all, let alone for being a member of a disfavored group.
Who is doing this right now? Except for Charlottesville a few years back I'm not even seeing this at most neo-Nazi rallies, and we have those almost weekly here in the US.
 
Moderator Action: Locked for growing toxicity.
 
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