Whether it be Reddit postings or online article comments sections, it doesn’t matter. The racism wears me down after awhile and makes me wonder if everyone I interact with in real life is racist (and not in the relatively harmless “everyone is kinda racist” way).
Do you notice the hatred too? Does it have an effect on you, or are you able to rationalize it away as teenaged nonsense? Do you think it entrenches prejudices among the impressionable masses, or do you think it’s just people letting off harmless steam?
Do you ever confront it? Or do you ignore it based on the assumption that only trolls would post such things.
I know one thing: I don’t understand how anyone who has spent five minutes on the internet can believe that we’ve moved past racism. I can’t get through an article anymore without encountering it, even when the content has nothing to do with race.
I’ve encountered the “Just ignore them” advice many times, and it fails because absence is not felt.
Suppose someone on the Internet makes a racist comment and 100 people click “like” or “thumbs-up” on his racist comment. That person isn’t going to notice that there were, let’s say, another 400 people who also saw that comment and chose NOT to click “like/thumbs-up” on it. How was/is he supposed to know that those people chose to ignore him? You can’t feel something that’s ***not ***there, unless it’s really obvious - and usually, there are enough people clicking “like” on racist comments for the racist person to feel validated and gratified.
I agree with you, Velocity. When I see a racist post receive eleventy-billion “likes”, it is very difficult for me to think that’s just an isolated troll. Maybe it takes a troll to say something racist out in the open. But it’s not just trolls who are doing all the up-voting.
When a racist post has eleventy-billion “likes” and doesn’t get challenged, but meanwhile reasonable arguments get torn apart and downvoted…well, why WOULDN’T someone walk away concluding that the racists have won the debate?
Some speech, press, or imagery I believe is dangerous to society. I also think overreactions like universities unlawfully sanctioning first amendment protected activities is just as dangerous.
What to do about it? Avoid the areas of the internet that are awful. On sites that repugnantly offensive speech is highly prevalent you won’t change that culture.
Arent the people who say we have moved past racism generally motivated by racism, that has been my impression. The people who say ‘racism is in the past’ are generally white people who want blacks to stop talking about their problems. This effort to invalidate black problems is arguably a form of racism.
Racism seems very subtle nowadays, except online. I really don’t know what to tell you. I found this study on trolling that found trolls score much higher on dark triad personality traits.
People are as racist* as their limits. E.g., look at what adding street cameras and smart phones to the mix IRL has done.
There are fewer limits on Reddit vs. real life, so people listening to and acting out of that side of their nature goes up.
I have no idea how magnified it is: when I am on a guitar messageboard, it feels like everybody plays, and Trend X is something everybody cares about OMFG deeply. Yet I talk in general public about guitars, oh, never.
If you hold the camera close to a demonstration of hundreds, it can look like thousands.
I avoid those parts of the Internet, just like I avoid radio chat shows and ideological stuff on cable TV. Plays to the wrong parts of us humans.
I notice it, but it doesn’t have a personal effect on me other than being aware that racism is still thriving, if a bit weaker than in the past. But that’s likely because most of the racism is not directed at me, and that which is directed at people like me (Jews) is of a substantially different character than what’s directed at black people and Hispanics. Reading that “my people” are manipulative and secretly controlling the levers of the world doesn’t seem to have the same negative effect on my psyche. If I was constantly reading that “my people” are animalistic brutes, and uncontrollably violent thugs, then I would think that would sink in and have more of an effect.
I usually ignore it, but not on the Dope. The Dope is my home on the internet, and I will challenge bigotry in my home when I see it.
It’s not just racism, it’s all of it. On the internet and in real life, it’s like lots of people are out for one big troll. And it’s definitely wearing on me. Especially this election cycle, where playing to the lowest common denominator has become an extreme sports with a gazillion dollar payout. I want a reboot.
Not to specifically criticize any poster in this thread, but IMHO, oftentimes when people say, “Just ignore” or “Just don’t let it affect you and move on,” they mean it in a dismissive, I-want-complicated-problems-to-have-simple-solutions way. It’s akin to what drives isolationism in international politics.
The Internet reminds me of the Gum Wall. Everyone is taught not to stick your gum on walls but everyone does it, at least on that wall.
It’s like asking, “are 3rd graders ever going to stop being mean?” Nope. Not ever. And a lot of adults remain 3rd graders on the inside, their whole life.
But seriously, I am still naive enough to be shocked at what I’ve stumbled across (luckily only rarely, following the occasional link from here). We all have some prejudgement but the blatant stuff is boggling to me. I have to cling to the hope from upthread that it is a small group, and also that it is folks who cannot affect outcomes to a large degree.
If you go into a mosh pit looking for polite interaction, I am not sure what to say.
Is a mosh pit an indicator that Humans like a rousing good melee, and some will put up with bruises and damage to let off steam? Sure. Is it a full cross section of Humanity or the best place to discuss real issues and real actions one can take? Of course not.
I want a reboot.