LogFAQs > #913604277

yeah, it's an unfortunate part of the human condition that whenever we are accused of being incorrect about something, we instinctively dig our heels in and overcommit. i don't know why. humans suck, i guess.

but this is sort of why echo chambers exist, and it's possible for someone like jontron, even with the entire internet at his disposal, to confine himself to places that continue to support his views, while being convinced that anyone with the opposite view is just a brainwashed liberal or whatever.

so on one hand i agree with you that the microcosm really should not exist, but i think current social media trends prove that you can make your own microcosm wherever you want, sometimes without even realizing you're doing it.

it's true that everyone thinks they are "on the right side", so actual maliciousness can be hard to define. i started to actually take a peek at some alt-right forums and realized that if you ask them, they will legit tell you "oh we have nothing against other races at all! we truly wish the best for them, we just think it should be in a country that isn't ours", so i had to sort of step back and be like "well shit wait, maybe it's harder than i thought to decide where the line is"

i guess my simplified view is if jontron legit said "yes i believe black people are inferior and we should be keeping them out of the country" then i'd be like "okay that is overtly racist, very bad, malicious" but when he hasn't quite said that, i'm still in "benefit of the doubt" mode. but that may be overly simplistic.

and yeah i agree with you that kneejerk condeming doesn't help, and also that we're not reinventing the wheel here, so whatever. but ty for explaining your PoV, i do want to eventually get to the point where I can sort out exactly how naive i should be vs how much of a harder stance i should take, so this helps.