Poll of the Day > I'm going to regret this but...

(+) Yeah! (+)

Anyways, I was laying in bed, trying to fall asleep and a thought came to my mind that I really had to post a message about. Probably going to regret this in the morning, but maybe it will (positively) reach the person I am thinking about right now.

The real problem with society these days is weaponized hate. Certain people on the internet seem to get a laugh at marginalizing others. I've gotten it a bit over the years from certain people on this board, but it happens a lot worse to you know, actual marginalized groups. This is clearly wrong, and I've been affected by it before (you guys know what I'm talking about here), and I've really messed up, and been manipulated. I'm sure others are being manipulated (or have been manipulated) and may not realize it yet.

These people who do the manipulating, they know what they're doing. They know that weaponized hate gets them attention (or even money / donations / whatever). People do this weaponized hatred for thousands of viewers (or millions if you think of our previous president). It's an attention grab. It's a source of income. Most people don't realize it's happening and it's really fucked up.

That's all I have to say. I don't usually write down thoughts I have when I'm about to go to sleep at night, but I felt like this one would reach someone.

And yes, if this were 2014 (or was it 2015?), and if I knew then what I knew now, I would totally have written that about him instead.

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Yeah youre right mostly

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I think the real problem is that hate, at heart, feels good. It's addictive. Which is why so many people online - on every side of every socio-political issue - have basically turned into ravening hordes constantly on the lookout for the next thing/person to despise and be outraged about.

We've basically become a massive lynch mob constantly on the search for new victims. And we'll never be satisfied no matter how many people we tear down, because we'll always need that next adrenaline high.

The only thing that saves us is that said mob has the attention span of a goldfish, so if you can weather the storm for about 15 minutes they'll move on to the next person/thing they want to tear apart.
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Hate and bullying can also be funny which makes them very dangerous. A lot of people wont stop to really realize something is awful or harmful if its making them and their friends laugh and feel good.

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Mead posted...

Hate and bullying can also be funny which makes them very dangerous. A lot of people wont stop to really realize something is awful or harmful if its making them and their friends laugh and feel good.

It also makes the person doing the bullying feel better, because it elevates you over the person you're belittling.

Hence why you get your usual "Bullies are people who grew up abused" assumption - the idea that people with low self-esteem pull others down to pull themselves up, or to at least feel better about their own life.

It could also tie into a lot of social dynamics involving hierarchy because humans are social animals. Basically, it's the verbal equivalent of wolves fighting for dominance or primate roughhousing for status.
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Perhaps it's not weaponized hate.

Perhaps it's the force multipliers of fame and fandom?

You can cause trouble just as easily with weaponised fans of any kind.

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