There’s nothing wrong with criticism or calling out bad behavior. However, shouting “ACAB” in a thread about police violence, making jokes about beheading rich people, or throwing “muskrat” comments in discussions about Elon Musk, just to name a few examples, makes you an asshole and part of the reason why social media is so incredibly toxic.
If you’re doing that while also explaining why you feel that way, then it’s still not the best approach, but at least you’re contributing to the conversation instead of just making noise. Throwing out insults without adding substance doesn’t challenge anyone or encourage meaningful discussion; it just perpetuates the toxic environment that so many of us complain about.
part of the reason why social media is so incredibly toxic
Hard disagree. Commercial social media is incredibly toxic because of individuals like Musk, Zuckerberg, etc. They increase their profits to the determent of society. They create the echo chambers that cause that behavior.
You don’t think the users contribute at all to the toxicity and it’s all because of Zuckerberg, Musk, Dorsey etc.?
Then why is Lemmy filled with the exact same toxicity? Exhibit A: Comment by MedicPig below.
Feels like victim blaming the people who are currently being manipulated by algorithms which specfically draw people deeper and deeper into content designed to make them angry.
“It’s your fault for being manipulated!” You scream at the top of your lungs. It’s like when my state asks me to preserve water, but it barely regulates industrial water supply. Which is somewhere between 90 and 95% of total usage.
Maybe you are trying to treat a symptom, and maybe ignoring the direct cause is a bit of a problem.
Lemmy doesn’t run any recommendation algorithms yet the problem still persists. I’d say it’s an inherent feature of human nature which the algorithms just take advantage of.
