Is the internet radicalizing us?
The killing of Charlie Kirk has set America on fire. You have one side which rushed to brand it proof of the Left’s “evil” nature — Elon was tweeting within minutes, calling them “killers” before we even knew the details. Meanwhile, plenty on the other side were dredging up Kirk’s worst and most hateful quotes and commenting sarcastically something like “Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy”.
Look — a man died. Whether he was awful or not, whether he said terrible things or not, whether he fucking deserved it or not — he’s dead. His kid will grow up without a father. Shame on the Right for weaponizing his death to go after their enemies. Shame on the Left for celebrating it and pretending his end was somehow righteous.
When you are a parent, sometimes your kids will just spout off things that infuriate you so much all you can say is “please just stop; stop talking now and go think about what you’re saying”. I feel that way right now with both the Left and the Right. Go to your rooms.
As Gandalf once said:
Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.
The political environment in America is grotesque. It is beyond disgusting. MAGAs preach “free speech for me, not for thee”, silencing everything from the other side. The Trump administration is gleefully leading the charge. If this isn’t a gross misuse of power, I don’t know what is. The historic parallels are not kind, but also America once called other nations authoritarian, and even added the moral judgement “evil”, for doing less than this.
And the Left? Half are cowering and kissing the ring of el Drumpf, the other half delight in hurling death wishes back. “They said it first, so now we can too!” Fox News had a host call for killing the homeless as policy. That was vile, even for Fox News. But the Left using it as license for their own bile is just as sickening.
What the hell is wrong with these people?
Honestly, it feels like we’re watching children fight. Both sides deserve to be separated and sent to their rooms without supper to think about what they’ve done.
But I digress.
Is this social media at work? The algorithm? One exposes us to the fringe and the other rewards us for joining it.
Outcasts find communities of other outcasts online. They learn fast: scream something extreme (“Vaccines cause brain damage and the government is inserting microchips into us!!!”) and the dopamine hits roll in—likes, comments, attention. For people starved of affection, that’s a drug. The only way to get more is to go further. More extreme, more deranged, until you’re storming the Capitol and building gallows to hang the vice president. It is a drug. And just like any drug, they can’t get enough — they need it just to function.
That’s the extreme, but aren’t we all caught in a smaller version of the same cycle?
Even on issues where Left and Right might actually agree, they’re incentivized to stake out the loudest, most partisan extreme. So they do.
Yeah, Rush started it. Before he came along and made it ok to attack the other side — not their policies, but them — politicians of both parties would argue during the day but dine together at night. After he started, and especially after Newt ran with the message, it became war. The other side joined in and things spiraled. But it was never too bad until social media came along to pump dopamine into every extreme take.
I don’t have the answer. End rant. I’m disgusted. This isn’t “bothsidesism” — one side is worse right now in my opinion — but it’s undeniable that both are acting like assholes, and something deeper is pushing all of us in this direction.
I don’t think society will implode. I’m not all doom-and-gloom. But unless we stop ignoring it (or just blaming “the other side”) this shift is going to keep rotting us. It’s already spreading outside of America. We can see hints of this in Japan now, and I know it is elsewhere as well. The longer we wait to face it, the uglier the reckoning will be.
Whew….
Give me comments with your opinions on this. @geneeverett leans the other idological direction from me, so give us your view, Gene. Fellow expats: @meno, @ecoinstant — what do you guys think of what’s going on? @azircon, with your data driven perspective on things, do you have any feedback? Any other Americans or people living in America to tag… too many.
Anyway, give me your thoughts. Am I just crazy, or is this starting to get out of control? Can we do anything or are we condemned to just sit here and watch as the world goes mad?