I think trolls have managed to set a very low standard for internet conduct. Between overt rudeness and genuine politeness, there's a large middle ground that isn't obviously unacceptable but also isn't how friendly people behave.
@chris_martin well fuckin said babe
@chris_martin This toot evokes feels.
I agree so strongly but having matured alongside the internet I feel like what you're saying ignores a fundamental truth about humanity.
@Elucidating What is it I'm ignoring?
@chris_martin People have been trying to civilize internet since its inception.
The idea that people are liberated from social norms without direct human interaction to play off of is well studied.
There is this idea that trolls promote: that they push boundaries. It's a lie. It's that they feel none, and in fact very few people do.
There is this idea that banning is a modern, extremist solution. It's not at all.
@chris_martin People are intrinsically what you see here, on the internet, when they don't have other human social cues to play off of.
Researcher after researcher has concluded this. It is not just Penny Arcade making a comic, it's studied psychology.
@chris_martin Confronting this and the low standard of discourse is confronting who we are as a society.
And maybe you weren't ignoring that. I am sorry, but it feels like there is this line drawn in your toot. There are the trolls and then there is us.
The trolls ARE us. That slightly sloppy and careless discourse is everyone on this site.
@chris_martin sorry to go on a tear.
It's been something I've been lying awake thinking about a lot. Certainly there are bad actors who exist only to be avatars of hatred. They are a tiny sum of people.
The gross inventory of rudeness on the internet is carelessness, ignorance, and misunderstandings.
And even 🐘's format maximizes the later.
We've set up this dichotomy of "did/should/can I say anything offensive" that has distracted us from a much wider range of more subtle considerations about being a decent human, like "does my unprovoked negativity make me kind of a drag to have around"