3 ms·

I would like to suggest that the attempts to solve 'toxicity' in social media are actually an attempt to relativize the latent, normalized, usual-amount white s

I would like to suggest that the attempts to solve 'toxicity' in social media are actually an attempt to relativize the latent, normalized, usual-amount white supremacism, heteronormativity, ableism and patriarchy that most makers -- being privileged enough to have the resources to make -- are filtered for ahead of time. Put a way that you find easier to read: You're halfway between 'oh shit I'm like that' and 'yes I appreciate the needs but we couldn't possibly XYZ' and you, like everyone else, is having to pick a side. That's not 'toxicity', that's just the ongoing war. And for those of us whose survival depends on the outcome, the war is not figurative; it is quite literal. Beware, your bias is manifesting.

Pfhreak 6y ago
I definitely had the first impression that this site was selling "sealioning as a service", and agree that trying to get people to "debate me, bro" is fundamentally not understanding the problem on social media. Marginalized people are not interested in having to debate their existence to every person who feels entitled to challenge them.
sjwright 6y ago
That's an astonishingly narrow interpretation of what ails social media, and I would submit are echos of problems that rest many layers above bedrock. Closer to bedrock is how the human psyche responds to the unfathomable scale and signal amplification algorithms which pervade all online culture. Put simply, the internet cannot be expected to cure the human condition. We're not well suited to living in a world where community means millions of people. Aggregate human behaviour becomes too predictable at scale, and in turn more easily hackable. And this ends up making people post intentionally inflammatory comments, such as an inference that privilege or resources reliably insulate people from loss or marginalisation. Individual humans from all strata are complex and deserve more respect than a game of intersectional olympics. My advice is to try to treat all people as individuals, no matter how satisfying it might be to marginalise groups as privileged, toxic or biased.

Pfhreak 6y ago

I definitely had the first impression that this site was selling "sealioning as a service", and agree that trying to get people to "debate me, bro" is fundamentally not understanding the problem on social media. Marginalized people are not interested in having to debate their existence to every person who feels entitled to challenge them.

sjwright 6y ago

That's an astonishingly narrow interpretation of what ails social media, and I would submit are echos of problems that rest many layers above bedrock. Closer to bedrock is how the human psyche responds to the unfathomable scale and signal amplification algorithms which pervade all online culture. Put simply, the internet cannot be expected to cure the human condition. We're not well suited to living in a world where community means millions of people. Aggregate human behaviour becomes too predictable at scale, and in turn more easily hackable. And this ends up making people post intentionally inflammatory comments, such as an inference that privilege or resources reliably insulate people from loss or marginalisation. Individual humans from all strata are complex and deserve more respect than a game of intersectional olympics. My advice is to try to treat all people as individuals, no matter how satisfying it might be to marginalise groups as privileged, toxic or biased.