Researchers at New York University have concluded that social media is not an accurate reflection of society, but more like a funhouse mirror distorted by a small but vocal minority of extreme outliers. It’s a finding that has special resonance this election season. John Yang speaks with psychology professor Jay Van Bavel, one of the authors of the paper that reported the research, to learn more.
I’ve been experiencing this on lemmy 100% They follow a playbook of sorts too. A couple of things I notice they all do:
- Ignore any comparison to Republicans/Trump. Because doing so would point out how absolutely lop-sided the choice is.
- Claim Genocide is the reason. Ignore all other reasons.
- Call you Racist, Conservative, etc.
- Claim that you insulted them in an attempt to become the victim.
- Claim that during every presidential vote “America has been at stake if you don’t vote for [X] candidate” - ignoring the very real attempts at overthrowing our government.
The community “leftymemes” also seems to have been made explicitly for spreading this kind of thing.
Are you me? Literally the same experience. I think it’s bots programmed in a way that follows what you described.
I just went for the heavy use of blocking those types, and my experience on here has gotten way better. Otherwise, my user experience was just a fire hose of outrage and performative pearl clutching.
It’s up to everybody to keep their heads on straight, even in the social pressure (“social pressure”) of a dumb comment section.
It’s starting to feel more like we shouldn’t allow political ads or discussions online without restrictions. Foreign actors and idiots are too quick to spread misinformation. If people want to get an idea of what others believe in, then go talk with other real people. This feels more like kids learning how to socialize from online games. People are dicks online, and you can interact with people that way in real life
Honestly I’ve started to start any political conversations with someone who’s misinformed like: “Oh you’re think they’re eating dogs? I saw that too, but it isn’t news. It’s political ads. You know? Propaganda? But they are selling you fear instead. Turns out it’s just fiction, lol. They tricked me too.”
It generally opens up a legit conversation, and the person is less defensive since it’s us talking about something else. Instead of me vs them.
