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It has always been a problem, but I agree it has gotten worse. The problem is that it has gotten worse in the real world too. Ive had friends family and strange

It has always been a problem, but I agree it has gotten worse. The problem is that it has gotten worse in the real world too. Ive had friends family and strangers yell at me over minor political disagreements, and its not primarily coming from any particular side or group. You would think they were trying to fight about something important like emacs or vim. But why is this happening recently? I think the rise of smart phones has facilitated way more people engaging on the internet instead of just browsing. This in turn has opened up people to the vast amount of viewpoints in the world, and unfortunately people tend to get angry at people that are different. Another thing that has become a problem is people being paid to support or attack a cause. These professional rabble rousers are stirring up shit inside of people that would rather just have a sandwhich.

stronglikedan 7y ago
> The problem is that it has gotten worse in the real world too. Ive had friends family and strangers yell at me over minor political disagreements, and its not primarily coming from any particular side or group. I've heard this said quite a bit, but I have yet to experience it, and I live in a major metropolitan area. I hope I'm not just one of the lucky ones, and this stuff is more limited IRL than most people think.
kangnkodos 7y ago
There may be a small number of paid partisans, but I think a bigger problem is people who are paid in internet points. There's some kind of psychological flaw that drives people to get more points. Then the combination of the way web sites are set up, and the people inside of them leads to the extemists "winning" by getting more points. Then the whole mess feeds on itself to get more and more extreme.