5 ms·

I've seen a lot of kids my age become Communists or Nazis due to internet-induced radicalization; I was rather close to becoming a radical leftist myself. Perso

I've seen a lot of kids my age become Communists or Nazis due to internet-induced radicalization; I was rather close to becoming a radical leftist myself. Personally, I think it's harmless; they tend not to hold these views for a long time when tempered with the saner views of their peers and broader society. It's like the chicken pox - you get it once, become a bit nasty for a while, and then you're immune to further insanity. It's when the person in question is mentally ill or socially isolated (i.e a NEET living in their mother's basement) that radicalization becomes harmful, because there's nothing to bring them back to the baseline. Marginal identities attract marginal people. (I have a theory that online transgender-ism is spreading in exactly the same way - note the massive amount of trans people online who are also NEETs, weebs, and/or communists. But that's a story for another day.)

searchableguy 6y ago
I want to discuss something but I think I would rather publicly not discuss it. Do you mind sending me an email? (In the profile)
- krebs_liebhaber 6y ago
  Sure. Just sent one.
foldr 6y ago
It makes sense that trans people would be left-leaning because people who aren't left-leaning tend (painting with broad brushstrokes) to be opposed to equal treatment for trans people. Similarly, trans people can often be quite socially isolated because it's difficult for them to integrate into a transphobic society. In the US, there are 26 states where it's perfectly legal to fire someone simply for being trans. Beyond that, I think you are quite off base in comparing trans people to online Communist and neo-Nazi radicals. You are probably looking at a much narrower slice of the trans population than you think you are. Assuming that you don't actually have some kind of anti-trans agenda, I'd rethink how you're expressing whatever point you're trying to make here.
- krebs_liebhaber 6y ago
  I agree with you on that last point - I'm talking largely about the trans people who are very online and very vocal about it (a self-selected demographic), not trans people in general.
  - foldr 6y ago
    Even so, there are uncomfortable undertones in comparing those people to neo-Nazis and the like. If you think that radical trans activists are in some meaningful way comparable to neo-Nazis and other violent thugs, or that they are mentally ill, then it may be you who has been taken in by online propaganda. I guess it annoys me that you left this little ad-hominem in parentheses at the end of your original comment. If you have some kind of issue with trans people or trans rights, you should really just say what that is, rather than making these kinds of comparisons.
cameronbrown 6y ago
At least in your first paragraph, your experience is similar to my own (19 y/o here). There's a growing population of people who are in totally polarised buckets politically.

searchableguy 6y ago

I want to discuss something but I think I would rather publicly not discuss it. Do you mind sending me an email? (In the profile)

krebs_liebhaber 6y ago
Sure. Just sent one.

foldr 6y ago

It makes sense that trans people would be left-leaning because people who aren't left-leaning tend (painting with broad brushstrokes) to be opposed to equal treatment for trans people. Similarly, trans people can often be quite socially isolated because it's difficult for them to integrate into a transphobic society. In the US, there are 26 states where it's perfectly legal to fire someone simply for being trans. Beyond that, I think you are quite off base in comparing trans people to online Communist and neo-Nazi radicals. You are probably looking at a much narrower slice of the trans population than you think you are. Assuming that you don't actually have some kind of anti-trans agenda, I'd rethink how you're expressing whatever point you're trying to make here.

krebs_liebhaber 6y ago
I agree with you on that last point - I'm talking largely about the trans people who are very online and very vocal about it (a self-selected demographic), not trans people in general.
- foldr 6y ago
  Even so, there are uncomfortable undertones in comparing those people to neo-Nazis and the like. If you think that radical trans activists are in some meaningful way comparable to neo-Nazis and other violent thugs, or that they are mentally ill, then it may be you who has been taken in by online propaganda. I guess it annoys me that you left this little ad-hominem in parentheses at the end of your original comment. If you have some kind of issue with trans people or trans rights, you should really just say what that is, rather than making these kinds of comparisons.

cameronbrown 6y ago

At least in your first paragraph, your experience is similar to my own (19 y/o here). There's a growing population of people who are in totally polarised buckets politically.