I think we need to acknowledge that left-wing groups (especially online) have just as much of a problem with extremists as right-wing groups do. It’s not quite as systemic and weaponized as what’s described in Innuendo Studio’s excellent video, but it is there and it can just as easily result in violent behavior.
Whenever a community turns into an echo chamber, the ideological aspects of that community switch from principles to performances. The members of the community start trying to prove that they’re holier-than-thou, usually to gain nothing more than attention.
but I don’t remember this kind of thing happening in American politics any time previous to the social-media-mass-shilling age of political discourse.
I think you’re right, but I think this has less to do with some false-flag conspiracy and more to do with the accelerant nature of social media in general. I think a lot of this kind of behavior is driven by the one-upmanship impulse, and the effect of online communities is to concentrate a self-selecting group of people with similar interests. The larger the group becomes, the more an individual has to work to stand out and receive recognition from the rest of the group. Frequently the easiest way to do that is to demonstrate some extreme form of whatever the group’s ideology is.
Basically I think a lot of this is just people looking for an ego-stroking. It’s attention-seeking behavior, the kind you see in teenagers. They fall into some community or other and then find a community-acceptable way to exhibit their narcissistic tendencies.
I think we need to acknowledge that left-wing groups (especially online) have just as much of a problem with extremists as right-wing groups do. It’s not quite as systemic and weaponized as what’s described in Innuendo Studio’s excellent video, but it is there and it can just as easily result in violent behavior.
Whenever a community turns into an echo chamber, the ideological aspects of that community switch from principles to performances. The members of the community start trying to prove that they’re holier-than-thou, usually to gain nothing more than attention.
I think you’re right, but I think this has less to do with some false-flag conspiracy and more to do with the accelerant nature of social media in general. I think a lot of this kind of behavior is driven by the one-upmanship impulse, and the effect of online communities is to concentrate a self-selecting group of people with similar interests. The larger the group becomes, the more an individual has to work to stand out and receive recognition from the rest of the group. Frequently the easiest way to do that is to demonstrate some extreme form of whatever the group’s ideology is.
Basically I think a lot of this is just people looking for an ego-stroking. It’s attention-seeking behavior, the kind you see in teenagers. They fall into some community or other and then find a community-acceptable way to exhibit their narcissistic tendencies.