In the early days of internet culture (mid to late 90s), it was understood that there were trolls, and loudmouths, and by and large they should be ignored.
As the internet grew exponentially, people who hadn't been exposed to these type of people became increasingly "appalled" by their behaviour, and rather than ignore, they chose to engage, but in the worst ways possible.
They attempted to create sanctums for themselves and others. "Safe spaces" where they could "shield themselves" from the "bad people" on the internet. They created echo chambers, and in doing so, they emboldened themselves to think that they were in the right, their opinions were the true opinions, and anyone who disagreed was a "bad person".
Through their echo chambers, where no dissenting opinions were ever heard, any and all contrarians were shut down, shuttled out, or bullied and/or banned, they took this same mentality and started applying it everywhere. Because they had never allowed dissenting opinions, when they went to platforms like facebook, twitter, instagram, etc. and were confronted by them, they employed the same tactics they did within their echo chambers - gang up, bully, shut down, until the "bad people" either "voluntarily" disappeared, or were forced to disappear.
They're a mob. Not only are they a mob, they're bullies and trolls, the exact same thing they attempted to shield themselves from, but far, far worse. They do this not in jest, but in all seriousness. They do not care about people's rights, only their own matter.
These are the people who will attempt to lead the next generation by moving into the political spectrum.
The early internet had killfiles. Even many BBSs had killfiles.
The important difference: you, an individual, put someone on a killfile. People were free to speak. You didn't have to listen to them. That's free speech.
In the early days of internet culture (mid to late 90s), it was understood that there were trolls, and loudmouths, and by and large they should be ignored.
As the internet grew exponentially, people who hadn't been exposed to these type of people became increasingly "appalled" by their behaviour, and rather than ignore, they chose to engage, but in the worst ways possible.
They attempted to create sanctums for themselves and others. "Safe spaces" where they could "shield themselves" from the "bad people" on the internet. They created echo chambers, and in doing so, they emboldened themselves to think that they were in the right, their opinions were the true opinions, and anyone who disagreed was a "bad person".
Through their echo chambers, where no dissenting opinions were ever heard, any and all contrarians were shut down, shuttled out, or bullied and/or banned, they took this same mentality and started applying it everywhere. Because they had never allowed dissenting opinions, when they went to platforms like facebook, twitter, instagram, etc. and were confronted by them, they employed the same tactics they did within their echo chambers - gang up, bully, shut down, until the "bad people" either "voluntarily" disappeared, or were forced to disappear.
They're a mob. Not only are they a mob, they're bullies and trolls, the exact same thing they attempted to shield themselves from, but far, far worse. They do this not in jest, but in all seriousness. They do not care about people's rights, only their own matter.
These are the people who will attempt to lead the next generation by moving into the political spectrum.
The early internet had killfiles. Even many BBSs had killfiles.
The important difference: you, an individual, put someone on a killfile. People were free to speak. You didn't have to listen to them. That's free speech.