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If you’ve perused any news article, blog post, Facebook status, Instagram feed, or, my favorite example, a YouTube video, you have no doubt seen a slew of belittling or negative comments. Rarely are these commenters even interested in having a productive argument; they simply want to provide their stance, tip their hat and leave the room. Or, perhaps they’ll hang around for a while to keep fanning the flame they’ve just ignited, for sport, maniacally chuckling while tossing back handful after handful of potato chips. At least, that’s what I picture.
What’s likely
more accurate is what Forbes contributor Deanna Zandt describes in her article
on flaming; that when something annoys us, a switch is flipped. We simply start
typing our anger like mad men without pausing to see how who we’re trying to
communicate with will react, because they aren’t there. What I also found interesting in the article
is the study that showed that using real names and photos actually didn’t make
a difference. I honestly thought that would be the biggest deterrent for
spreading hate and negativity. Although, I suppose if a person is predestined
to make the choice to flame someone, that’s just who they are, and they’re
likely to do it in real life as well. For me, it doesn’t matter if people know
my name or see me face, because I simply would feel terrible if I made any
flaming comment. Unfortunately, some people just don’t care.
I recently
read an article on Endgadget about fake news articles and how susceptible we
are to clicking on negative and outlandish titles, rather than positive and sounder
descriptions. The author mentions some outrageous articles that painted Donald
Trump favorably. Below are some of the comment threads, which honestly, bring
up points that have absolutely nothing to do with the article.
Timmmaya day ago
Does
anybody else find it troubling the only way republicans can get a president in
the White House is to fix the media, 2000 prematurely calling the election,
2016 blatantly lying but calling your opponent the liar?
Truthseekera day ago
Ignoring all the media outlets
that lean left are we? Laughable at best...
technorealza day ago
Oh look the Neo
Nazi Whitey is here again from his Mom's basement.
Plissken77a day ago
Oh look another
racist progressive that attacks anyone they don't agree with.
Chris
Benoit2 days ago
This
website smokes pole now that whiny liberals are trying to act like they're
politically aware of anything outside their safe spaces. Snobby attitudes like
those witnessed in this comment section are precisely the reason Donald Trump
won.
technorealza day ago
No - he won because white men
needed to go back to the time when they thought
they ruled the earth.
What I notice
most about these back and forth “arguments” is that no one even tries to make a
clear point, no one backs it with any evidence. All comment sections seem to be
are childish snowball fights, pummeling each other with fired words until
someone relents. Do I think these words do any real harm? No, not really. But they're clearly far from productive.
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