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dollarsandsense's avatar

Fascinating! Yes, I've long wondered why online rhetoric by people like incels (often designed to troll, provoke, get attention, etc) is taken so *literally*! I think I read an answer here: because those accusing incels of being terrorists (or potential terrorists) are blind to their own hypocrisies when they likewise abuse others. "Death threats for me but not for thee," etc etc.

Furthermore, the assumption that online rhetoric always has real world consequences reminds me that a hundred years ago most people assumed radio had so much power that listeners would blindly obey whatever they heard on it. Granting powerful media effects to a new medium seems to be typical.

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rastahatman's avatar

Boy, people really are obsessed with finding these extreme examples of human behavior, choosing a side pro/or con, and then ranting about it ad nauseum on the internet. "They're a victimized group. They need our help!" "No, they're sickos trying to destroy the world!" And then there's the "Bob is a man. Bob hates his mom. Therefore, men hate women" school of logic.

Willy Weirdo posts on 4chan his fantasy of lopping off his girlfriends toes with a floppy disk = 20,000 tweets/retweets.

37 people shot last weekend in Chicago. Crickets.

Logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead.

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