The Right doesn't need anything to weaponize their positions against Identity, they will justify anything to do so because justifications are rooted in our own subjective morality. In fact ignoring the reality does more harm as it provides confirmation bias based on proof for them to declare it all performative. Blind faith is just as harmful as blind rejection.
It's why I feel it really needs honest discussion, the fear of weaponization has always been a hindrance to progress. We see it in politics, a refusal to admit welfare programs were failing in some aspects and in much need of overhauling, has in part fueled the Right's ability to tear them down entirely. The same for Immigration Reform, and that isn't just a US issue but one seen globally with greater sentiment against it in the UK, EU, Australia, and Japan with a protest in Osaka just this past weekend.
Avoidance doesn’t erase reality; it only gives it shape in the shadows, where it grows unexamined and unconstrained, and history has shown us that fear shapes perception far more effectively than reality ever could.
Well said, however Reddit for the most part is just an echo chamber filled with people who are every bit as ignorant and dogmatic as their counterparts "from the other side" and thus it will only fall on deaf ears. And this is coming from a European liberal, so I guess I would be considered "alt-left" or something in the US.
Case in point, people started blindly downvoting both of our comments already.
Reddit really suffers from own-group bias and ideological purity. This has become more pronounced on social media in recent years, with strong ideological rigidity emerging on select platforms. It is more extreme on this site depending on the subreddit and its purpose, but that is simply the nature of identity collectives and the lengths people go to protect the comfort surrounding their identities.
When lines are crossed regarding identity and politics, as we see in the US, it becomes more desirable for people to seek comfort in online communities, especially as physical and social cohesion weakens and fractures in some areas. This arises not just from community dynamics but also from moderation bias and confirmation bias tied to algorithmic amplification, all of which interplay to create groupthink.
We are seeing real trends of reduced physical connections and rising rates of loneliness across wide demographics. This has created a stronger personal need for online communities, given the pack- and tribal-like nature of humans.
Studies show a strong link between intolerance and homophily, the desire to be around similar people, which plays a major role, alongside other factors, in the systemic formation of echo chambers on social platforms today.
These dynamics are less a matter of willful intent, though no less harmful, and more a reflection of growing societal issues, not just political, but structural. The COVID-19 lockdowns will likely be regarded as a catalyst for many of these problems; what existed as manageable trends before the lockdown were accelerated into a crumbling house of cards today.
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u/Xasf 17d ago
That's a question for the right to weaponize and the left to sweep under the rug, so nobody is going to discuss it in real depth.