# People in the comment section of the news makes me think democratic society will be dead soon **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 13, 2024, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-the-comment-section-of-the-news-makes-me-think-democratic-society-will-be-dead-soon/1000221 "2024-04-13T04:55:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-the-comment-section-of-the-news-makes-me-think-democratic-society-will-be-dead-soon/1000221/1 "2024-04-13T04:55:13Z")
Ok some background before the OP I know Vietnam is corrupt and has been corrupt even before France colonized it and made Thailand look virtuous Even the natives are aware of this to the point that during the war it was assumed one set of crooks was just fighting another set of crooks … Well apparently the latest chairman of vietnams communist government has gotten quite serious about it to the point that one CEO was given the death penalty recently hence this news story > **[Real estate tycoon's death sentence is a turning point in Vietnam's...](https://www.aol.com/news/real-estate-tycoons-death-sentence-101811285.html)** > > The unusually harsh death sentence given to a real estate tycoon in Vietnam was a pivotal moment in the decadelong “Blazing Furnace” anti-corruption campaign as the Vietnamese business community wrestled with an uncertain future Friday. Real estate... What makes me pause is the comment section under the story where you get both sides of the political spectrum making comments like: “.That’s how you take care of business, no appeals, no years wasted on the taxpayer dime, done and done.” another: This is what we need for politicians who are caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Immediate hangings on public land for public display “The United States Justice System should take notice of what just happened in Vietnam. There are a number of financial criminals in the USA for whom this punishment would be more than appropriate, such as Sam Bankman-Friedman” a few of the ones that were racist seem to be removed as the ones advocating lynchings without trials here in America but death for financial crimes? and some of them were " trials? we need no stinking trials just hang them all in the middle of Central Park live on TV… that’'ll learn em … there’s a couple that say an equivalent of "yall insane and that’s not the way here "but they’re rounded out … ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-the-comment-section-of-the-news-makes-me-think-democratic-society-will-be-dead-soon/1000221/2 "2024-04-13T05:07:56Z")
News website comment sections are a hive of scum and villainy the likes of which you will not find elsewhere in the galaxy. That’s been the case ever since the AOL days when any news article having to do with biology or paleontology would be chock full of creationists posting all-caps evangelism. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-the-comment-section-of-the-news-makes-me-think-democratic-society-will-be-dead-soon/1000221/3 "2024-04-13T05:24:08Z")
Before our city newspaper went down the tubes it had comment sections for news articles. After a while they cut that out, as some folks were so ugly. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-the-comment-section-of-the-news-makes-me-think-democratic-society-will-be-dead-soon/1000221/4 "2024-04-13T05:25:37Z")
A nonzero and arguably meaningful fraction of comment-section thuggery is generated by foreign actors in service to regimes who have an interest in stoking division and anger in the American electorate. They aren’t expressing anything like a coherent ideology for propaganda purposes, they just want to push people into fighting with one another in hopes that the American experiment eventually fails. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-the-comment-section-of-the-news-makes-me-think-democratic-society-will-be-dead-soon/1000221/5 "2024-04-13T15:19:16Z")
The phenomenon of Internet Tough Guys has ramped up during the pandemic, exemplified by the Twitter warriors whose online bloodlust includes stumping for Nuremberg 2 tribunals to convict and execute people who inconvenienced them or supported Covid vaccines - including posting images of gallows. Sometimes the rhetoric [spills over from social media](https://www.timesofisrael.com/uk-police-probe-anti-vaxxer-for-implying-medics-should-be-hanged-like-nazis/) into public events. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-the-comment-section-of-the-news-makes-me-think-democratic-society-will-be-dead-soon/1000221/6 "2024-04-13T17:32:26Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > News website comment sections are a hive of scum and villainy the likes of which you will not find elsewhere in the galaxy. Absolutely. Judging humanity by reading news comments is like judging humanity by hanging out in a fraternity. You’re generalizing based on a very small, specific, and especially loathsome sample. God forbid you read YouTube comments for to get the pulse of society. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2024, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-the-comment-section-of-the-news-makes-me-think-democratic-society-will-be-dead-soon/1000221/7 "2024-04-14T14:25:23Z")
Agreed to all. The only comment sections still (usually) safe to click into are those following advice columns like Carolyn Hax in the WashPost, where most respondents provide thoughtful, often insightful discussions. Also some less than helpful stuff, but nowhere near as toxic as news commentary. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2024, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-the-comment-section-of-the-news-makes-me-think-democratic-society-will-be-dead-soon/1000221/8 "2024-04-14T14:25:29Z")
> The unusually harsh death sentence given to This line implies that they have a mellow death sentence. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2024, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-the-comment-section-of-the-news-makes-me-think-democratic-society-will-be-dead-soon/1000221/9 "2024-04-14T18:25:09Z")
Cranks have always existed. The internet provides boundless opportunities for cranks to be amplified and mutually supported. I wouldn’t worry too much about newspaper cesspools. A more live threat to democracy happens when they organize, eg at 4chan, twitterX, or Telegram. Category Error: “Financial Crimes” Also the death penalty for defrauding a country of 3% of its GDP doesn’t sound too harsh to me. The country may feel it lacks the capability of keeping someone like that safely bottled in prison. This might fall under something related to [the Ceausescu exception](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolae_Ceau%C8%99escu) - the death penalty could be justified in cases where the criminal poses an active threat to democracy. (Vietnam is not a democracy at all, but pulling in 3% of an authoritarian economy makes you a power broker, not a democratic capitalist financier.) So I’m saying the death penalty is ok if it’s protecting a corrupt authoritarian regime? No: I’m making a comparison: this is a case of an authoritarian power struggle with one side losing. Not good, but that’s because dictatorship isn’t good. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2024, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-the-comment-section-of-the-news-makes-me-think-democratic-society-will-be-dead-soon/1000221/10 "2024-04-14T18:38:11Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > > [@Smapti](#): > > > > News website comment sections are a hive of scum and villainy the likes of which you will not find elsewhere in the galaxy. > > Absolutely. Judging humanity by reading news comments is like judging humanity by hanging out in a fraternity. You’re generalizing based on a very small, specific, and especially loathsome sample. > > God forbid you read YouTube comments for to get the pulse of society. Unfortunately, I think the opposite is often true - anonymous comment sections are often the way to see how people truly think. A lot of “mundane, ordinary, average” people hold views that would be considered highly radical or disturbing - but the cover of anonymity lets them express it openly. I don’t think it’s a tiny minority, I think it’s close to a majority. Remember, Trump got 47% of the popular vote, and the Nazis and Hamas won democratic elections. The reason I feel that way is because of how heavily **upvoted** many such comments are. It’s one thing for someone to make a frightening comment; it’s another for it to be the highest-upvoted in an entire thread. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2024, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-the-comment-section-of-the-news-makes-me-think-democratic-society-will-be-dead-soon/1000221/11 "2024-04-14T22:26:32Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > The reason I feel that way is because of how heavily **upvoted** many such comments are. It’s one thing for someone to make a frightening comment; it’s another for it to be the highest-upvoted in an entire thread. Well, there’s your problem. You’re not considering how small the sample size is of people who bother voting on comments. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2024, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-the-comment-section-of-the-news-makes-me-think-democratic-society-will-be-dead-soon/1000221/12 "2024-04-14T22:33:50Z")
At this point, it feels important to reference the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory, because science: > **[Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/greater-internet-fuckwad-theory)** > > The Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory (GIFT) is a postulate which asserts that normal, well-adjusted people may display psychopathic or antisocial behaviors when given both anonymity and a captive audience on the Internet. As CJ Cregg said, in “West Wing,” > Let me explain something to you, this is sort of my field. The people on these sites? They’re the cast of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” Same. As. It. Ever. Was. I love the SDMB moderators. I have a small shrine to them in my living room. Yeah. Sure. Creepy. But there it is. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2024, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-the-comment-section-of-the-news-makes-me-think-democratic-society-will-be-dead-soon/1000221/13 "2024-04-14T22:39:21Z")
Or > **[The Dead Internet Theory, Explained](https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2024/01/16/the-dead-internet-theory-explained/?sh=5f73aef057c2)** > > The Dead Internet Theory suggests that the vast majority of online activity has been replaced by AI-generated content, and the theory is becoming more popular. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2024, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-the-comment-section-of-the-news-makes-me-think-democratic-society-will-be-dead-soon/1000221/14 "2024-05-30T19:55:23Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > [The Dead Internet Theory, Explained](https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2024/01/16/the-dead-internet-theory-explained/?sh=5f73aef057c2) I’ll bet it’s the Machines that are saying that. Generates more hits.