this post was submitted on 09 Nov 2023
35 points (87.2% liked)

Ask Lemmy

26753 readers
1920 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Please don't post about US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] dmention7@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

I agree with you, but it's not even for-profit spaces that are an issue.

The ability to interact with so many people--in near total anonymity, and who you are virtually certain to never meet again--significantly lowers the barrier for acting uncivilly. And likewise the facelessness of other people means that it's so much easier to mistakenly interpret their actions as hostile.

Think of that jerk who totally cut you off yesterday, versus you who just needed to squeeze in between two cars to make your exit. Or how much less likely you'd be to react negatively to your neighbor driving slow in the left lane versus a total stranger.

Our ape brains and thousands of years of human evolution give us the instinct to treat strangers outside our "tribe" with suspicion and interpret their neutral actions as hostile.

Sure those instincts can be exploited for profit and exacerbate them, but I disagree it's the root cause or the reason hostility seems to be on the rise.