Internet is more toxic than ever before and someone needs to do something about it

[Low Hanging Fruit]

Dont worry one day the AI overlord will take over and it will not really have opinions or care to take sides. It will burn everything evenly and those that made it come to that will deserve the blame.

[cubby]

Hate speech and Outrage community in various platforms is where i pin point the source of all this toxicity (could be wrong)
All kinds of hate and all kinds of outrage for the sake of entertainment.

Was the internet always toxic? Probably
But this snowballed way too much because now...people are given power when they have a following in the form of harassment.

Person X has a following
Person X uses following to cause a commotion and a angry mob
Results
mission acomplished, "next"

^^ this ^^ Is the INTERNET right now ^^

---

And im telling you, the situation is so bad...im even starting to believe the internet should have censorhip on all kinds of "hateful speech"
I know...a completely insane opinion to have and "anti-freedom of speech"
But is THAT bad guys...the situation is that bad.
And this people are using "freedom of speech" as a SHIELD to continue their cultist ways with their armies.

The internet right now is in such a bad place and i THINK the source of all this is the fact "we" realized "If i can cause a commotion and a angry mob i can have results"

---

Im not going to ask you to do anything.
Im asking you to do NOTHING when someone else tells you to cause a commotion...which i think is different. I dont know...

---

This is how i feel
And as always, because the internet is (almost) my only friend i need YOU guys to give me a reality check and i ask if you feel any of this.
Some perspective from different people would be nice.

It's only going to get worse. The phrase "garbage in, garbage out" is exactly where we are headed.

[Cruor]

No. Look at this forum as an example of why we cant have censorship of "hate speech" for example, if you state a fact like "x group commits more crime than average and we have to address this issue" you are considered using hate speech... for stating a fact.

Who gets to set what is hate speech? Look at the South Park episode where PC Principal is introduced and Kyle is labeled a hate speaker hor saying BRUCE Jenner isn't a hero to him. Further, who has the power or authority to stop it? This forum may be heavily censored but other platforms thankfully are not.

[Big Thanks]

It's only going to get worse. The phrase "garbage in, garbage out" is exactly where we are headed.

Just the thought that some person with a following can choose to highlight anything me or you do on the internet and send his armada to ruin your life...

If you dont think this is scary...thats because you dont know examples.

I know:
60y old man falsely accused of being a pedo and ruin his life
SWATTING ended up killing someone. Very cute indeed.
people with mental illness being attacked and pressured into suicide because people thought he was "faking" it for attention
falsely accusing someone for being a rapist. life ruined
People losing jobs for false information
discord channels dedicated to coordinate and target people and ruin their lives/attack their livelihood

Anyone can ruin your life online with lies quite honestly.

- - - Updated - - -

No. Look at this forum as an example of why we cant have censorship of "hate speech" for example, if you state a fact like "x group commits more crime than average and we have to address this issue" you are considered using hate speech... for stating a fact.

Who gets to set what is hate speech? Look at the South Park episode where PC Principal is introduced and Kyle is labeled a hate speaker hor saying BRUCE Jenner isn't a hero to him. Further, who has the power or authority to stop it? This forum may be heavily censored but other platforms thankfully are not.

I think the term "hate speech" just needs to be broadened a little bit (a huge bit).

You are right...
But releasing information where someone lives to a large audience? Prison to this person quite honestly.
Creating angry mobs and "defamation" are messed up also.

[PC2]

The internet is fine. Hate is just an emotion and a feeling, if you need to force your personal feelings on other people then that's a 'you problem'.

[Laughingjack]

Can't people just be responsible for what they consume rather then signing away everyone's ability?

We already have laws that cover defamation,false allegations, and providing false information to authorities.

Every other problem listed is simply what society endorses days.

[syrencove]

honestly this is one of the most intelligent posts i've seen on this issue in awhile. this truly is a real issue that happens literally all of the time with bigger content creators that have any sort of drama attached to them.

[Trassk]

The internet doesn't need to be more censored then it already is. What people using the internet need is to get thicker skin.

You want all the meanies to be censored, use the child safety locks, otherwise the adults using the internet have their own agency. I'd much rather live in a world that allows me to get offended then live in a world that prevents me from doing so.

[ErrandRunner]

What do you expect when certain groups control the internet? The mainstream media, they have that covered as well. Division is the name of the game, it's how they conquer.

[Ayirasi]

Yes, we need to be best.

[niztheundead87]

Another day goes by another person finds something to be offended with for no reason

[Rennadrel]

There's a number of issues that have to be tackled in order to actually settle things down.

Media, first and foremost, have become a corrupt, immoral and frankly hypocritical driving factor.

The progressive stack is literally an ever changing thing because it continues to fight within itself for domination over the title of most disadvantaged group.

Intersectionality is invariably tied to the progressive stack. Intersectionalists use defamation, harassment and dog piling in order to silence people who disagree with them or criticize their agenda.

The media is complicit and a term that I've been hearing a lot lately is the term "rage bait". I have seen this fairly frequently in the gaming sphere where "journalists" (let's be real here, most of these idiots are bloggers) are using opinions and clickbait to generate rage clicks. Here's an article that is a good example of rage bait https://archive.is/dISSp

Any links will be archives because websites are notorious for pulling these garbage articles that pretend to be news, when the backlash from the sheer stupidity gets too great. The provided example, the writer uses Twitter nobodies to bitch about how some gamers are annoyed that the character design of one of the enemies that has been in every Serious Sam game, doesn't have bare breasts like it did in Serious Sam 3, in the latest release. The writer does this to formulate an attack on gamers for being toxic misogynists, when in reality, it seems like such a non issue for the most part and even those of us who are in support of freedom of expression, are left even wondering why this clown is attacking gamers over the opinions of a few nobodies. This isn't news, and this crap happens a lot in gaming media these days.

The other two issues go hand in hand I think. The phrase "diversity and inclusion" in entertainment has become one that I view as a cudgel. It's being weaponized to attack fans of long standing franchises, characters and hobbies for the obvious attempt to subvert existing products to push the social justice agenda. This ultimately leads to backlash, and these same morons wonder why people get pissed off. Leave what we love alone and create your own products, stop race and gender bending or making once great characters into drab Mary Sue's and Karen's. These people will go out of their way to attack and harass people for wrong think. Yet they cry victim when they are the ones being bullied by trying to shove their politics into our hobbies.

- - - Updated - - -

More people simply have access to the internet.

And I can simply avoid the toxic places where the real-life shitstains congregate. The largest of them (terrorists and such) are on government watchlists already and most forums/social media have regulations.

I think this is often what gets ignored, or people try to use willful ignorance as an excuse when people bite back against their projection against said people, something that is unsurprisingly, commonplace on Twitter. The worst part is that a lot of people, especially of a certain ideology, love to hide behind block bots on Twitter, so that the people most commonly criticizing the often stupid things they say, can't have their say, and it leaves that individual in their own self created echo chamber.

[Tsyplenk]

Who would've thought that anonymity would cause people to be assholes?

If you can't take some toxicity and flaming on the internet, then you shouldn't be on it.

[Macd123aw]

Hate speech and Outrage community in various platforms is where i pin point the source of all this toxicity (could be wrong)
All kinds of hate and all kinds of outrage for the sake of entertainment.

Was the internet always toxic? Probably
But this snowballed way too much because now...people are given power when they have a following in the form of harassment.

Person X has a following
Person X uses following to cause a commotion and a angry mob
Results
mission acomplished, "next"

^^ this ^^ Is the INTERNET right now ^^

---

And im telling you, the situation is so bad...im even starting to believe the internet should have censorhip on all kinds of "hateful speech"
I know...a completely insane opinion to have and "anti-freedom of speech"
But is THAT bad guys...the situation is that bad.
And this people are using "freedom of speech" as a SHIELD to continue their cultist ways with their armies.

The internet right now is in such a bad place and i THINK the source of all this is the fact "we" realized "If i can cause a commotion and a angry mob i can have results"

---

Im not going to ask you to do anything.
Im asking you to do NOTHING when someone else tells you to cause a commotion...which i think is different. I dont know...

---

This is how i feel
And as always, because the internet is (almost) my only friend i need YOU guys to give me a reality check and i ask if you feel any of this.
Some perspective from different people would be nice.

The left use censorship as a means to tackle this.

Typically by de-platforming.

The problem with this is it creates a huge silent populist backlash.

Hence why the silent majority have shifted towards the right and Trump and a Brexit defied all polls and went ahead to win. (And will continue to do so until the left come back to centre).

[Santti]

I don't see it. It's as toxic as it has always been. Nothing has changed.

[Thereturn]

Hate speech and Outrage community in various platforms is where i pin point the source of all this toxicity (could be wrong)
All kinds of hate and all kinds of outrage for the sake of entertainment.

Was the internet always toxic? Probably
But this snowballed way too much because now...people are given power when they have a following in the form of harassment.

Person X has a following
Person X uses following to cause a commotion and a angry mob
Results
mission acomplished, "next"

^^ this ^^ Is the INTERNET right now ^^

---

And im telling you, the situation is so bad...im even starting to believe the internet should have censorhip on all kinds of "hateful speech"
I know...a completely insane opinion to have and "anti-freedom of speech"
But is THAT bad guys...the situation is that bad.
And this people are using "freedom of speech" as a SHIELD to continue their cultist ways with their armies.

The internet right now is in such a bad place and i THINK the source of all this is the fact "we" realized "If i can cause a commotion and a angry mob i can have results"

---

Im not going to ask you to do anything.
Im asking you to do NOTHING when someone else tells you to cause a commotion...which i think is different. I dont know...

---

This is how i feel
And as always, because the internet is (almost) my only friend i need YOU guys to give me a reality check and i ask if you feel any of this.
Some perspective from different people would be nice.

We used to call it statistics and science and freedom of speech. We used it to called out governments and their bullshit policies and actual problems in society.

Then government decided its smarter to silence people to create even bigger opposites in society for people to bicker over so people stop questioning policy.

So now its called hate speech. Thats not the Internets fault. Its well orchestrated societal manipulation.

[Acidbaron]

First i believed people would act more civilized if they were held more accountable, but now with social media people post on their real names and still act just as bad.

So *shrug*, social media also doesn't care hence they don't pre-filter content.

[Rennadrel]

The left use censorship as a means to tackle this.

Typically by de-platforming.

The problem with this is it creates a huge silent populist backlash.

Hence why the silent majority have shifted towards the right and Trump and a Brexit defied all polls and went ahead to win. (And will continue to do so until the left come back to centre).

This has been going on for some time, but has become exponentially worse over the last 5 years. It seems they keep doubling down like idiots rather than doing the right thing and reversing course. Voting for Trump was the first response in the USA, there's a very good chance he gets re-elected if the Democrats keep maintaining the same path.

[Doctor Amadeus]

For the Internet to be cleaned up 3 things must happen.

1. Anonymity needs to be a thing of the past.

2. Internet Protocols needs to be reformed so that a persons access to the internet is individualized, meaning that say if you are banned from a site, you can't evade it. This includes making VPN's obsolete.

3. Make actions done online after the first two changes, to have real life consequences specifically ones that are violated from and to where a user is accessing.


I guarantee with the 3 changes I made, almost all the bullshit toxic behavior would be a thing of the past. Sure there might be pockets, like local bars or say Facebook groups where members enter at their own risk per say, but the majority of public open forums and traffic would be greatly improved.


Anyone who disagrees has in inherent interest in producing the exact kinds of environments most everyone complains about.


I don't honestly see the 3 changes I made happening real soon, but in some small forms it already is and many company's are catching on and doing much of this kind of development for themselves on their own.

[Raldazzar]

If you easily get upset, dont go to toxic places. Most forums already dont allow free speech like this one for example

Not being serious surely? this place doesn't allow free speech. its a complete leftist shit show.. the mods are all simps who slap a banhammer on people who disagree with their views..

Also, to the OP.. the issue is.. who gets to decide what hate speech is.. look at the most recent twitch safety council nonsense. corporations are DESPERATE to show how woke they are.. huge movie studios are casting minorities etc.. not because they care. but because they see one color.. Green (as in money.) and they play people off one another etc..

point being, censorship only works if the censors themselves are unbiased.. and since we are all very very deeply flawed.. that is not possible. so I'd rather have chaos than a totalitarian echo chamber where dissent is silenced and new ideas cannot come forward. I have changed my thinking massively over the years about gays and some other issues like trans people etc if I only visited places where I felt comfortable everyone would agree and nobody would hurt my fee fees I would've never expanded my horizons.