I never realized there were so many strange and threatening people in the US until I started reading

[RKP5637]

comments posted on other forums to news articles. It really becomes chilling that many can muster up what they say filled with hatefulness and threats, and often pure ignorance. It's just wow! Fortunately there is DU where sanity prevails.

[cilla4progress]

1. I feel like hiding behind keyboards -

The anonymity of the internet - has brought out the worst in people.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

18. This

[trev]

32. Yes. It's harder to actually talk to people face to face.

The very first message board I ever joined was on the NYT in 1997. A rabid right-winger responded to my introductory post. His response addressed my admission to being an atheist. He immediately assigned to me a belief in abortion-no-matter-what and, on that made-up basis, called me a bigot. It had nothing to do with what I'd actually said; he just needed to get his hate on.

If we'd been sitting around a restaurant table, I doubt he'd have been so readily willing to talk like that.

He's still posting in conservative circles (I looked him up on the Net).

[redstatebluegirl]

38. I noticed that when my hometown paper put in a rule that you could not respond to

anything online on their paper without a facebook account a lot of the real right wing crazies took a hike. They don't want their neighbors to know they are crazy. Anonymity is not a good thing sometimes.

[Jake Stern]

51. People just open sockpuppet FB profiles.

I know this because I use one. Last thing I need is to be doxxed or subjected to a troll storm because I went toe to toe with some paranoid Freeper jackass on a public FB post.

[hlthe2b]

2. Even celebrity sites... It is depressing as hell. I will only read comments that are moderated..

WAPO, from time to time and a few others...

[ooky]

3. The amount of evil has definitely been an eye opener.

😳

[SlogginThroughIt]

4. They are everywhere

Several nights ago a new neighbor friend invited our family over to their house to a pool party. His father in law was there and he was a massive trumper who kept running his mouth about “the blacks”, “The gays”, and the despicable failure of the city schools.... I was completely gobsmacked that someone would feel “comfortable” talking like this in front of strangers. He was proselytizing hate like it was an American fucking value. It was when he started a sentence regarding somalis and “all the other minorities” that he thought “what we need to do is round them all up...” I didn’t even let him finish. I fucking lost it. To which he was mortally offended that I couldn’t have a decent conversation with him.... What... the .... fuck...?

Guy was on the verge of going down a road of embracing at best ethnic cleansing and at worst genocide and I am the bad guy.

I genuinely believe that most people are good people but I am losing a bit of that faith in humanity day by day.

[RKP5637]

7. Yep, I've seen/felt that. It is stunning, and especially that hatred is an American value, at least

it appears that is what is being said by these characters. For one example, it surely seems that at Trump rallies, etc. that hatred is a core value, well, along with ignorance. I used to think the overwhelming majority of people were really really good ... but I too start to wonder. It seems just about everyplace you go, anymore, hatred is epidemic about this one or that one. For me each day has many WTF's.

[SlogginThroughIt]

20. Thankfully

Thankfully I spent the week in NYC and I have to say it really lifted my spirits. I know there are a lot of bad intentioned racist folks there too, but for the most part it just felt good to immerse myself in a sea of humanity and diversity and you could feel the shared nature that everyone is just getting through life together even if not always on equal planes.

[RKP5637]

28. Yep, I've always loved NYC! n/t

[Corgigal]

31. I understand completely your feeling here.

A year ago, hubby and I went to Bruno Mars concert. When asked if I enjoyed it, I said yes because it felt like America. All different colors, ages and everything in between just having an enjoyable few hours shared together.

[ooky]

10. Their president proselytizes hate like it's an American value.

So does their "news", waving flags the whole time they do it. So he copies them and thinks he's being patriotic by doing it. People like him, they are sheep.

How fucked up is that? And now we all have to live in the middle of it, with these morons.

I bet he has an American flag pole in his front yard. If not, he's thinking about putting one in.

[bdamomma]

33. People are

loosing their moral compass to hate and bigotry brought to by this grifter/con artist/thug/liar and delusional POS.

[Skittles]

42. it is important to speak up

let these people know how vile we think they are

[Maru Kitteh]

44. I became "the bad guy" in my husband's family on Easter Sunday, 1998.

Coarse, misogynistic jokes were being tossed about the room like one of those classic inflatable beach-balls. Then my most VILE brother-in-law started a "joke" with . . What do you call a nig........... That's when I stood up and said loudly and sternly "ALL OF YOU should be ASHAMED of yourselves!" I didn't/don't give a fig about religion, but I pointed out that we were all supposed to be equal in the eyes of god, and they were denigrating children of god on the day meant to honor their Christ.

Just for background here; my mom was mostly Middle American Indian, and my dad had a pretty heavy dose of U.S. Native American that they didn't talk about and I'm still trying to trace. People sometimes have a hard time figuring out "what" I am, but mostly default to a tanned white lady because of my green eyes and chestnut hair.

Every single thing that could be found wrong with me from that moment forth, was. Anything my MIL's precious son did that she didn't agree with or understand . . . my fault.

Mind you I have never, since that one incident, had any cause to repeat such an admonition. We haven't lived anywhere near any of them for years, but even before we moved, they were decent enough to keep that shit to themselves in our presence. But that ONE TIME was enough. Every since then my MIL has complained to my husband that:

I have no sense of humor
I take things too seriously
I can't take a joke
I make people uncomfortable
and my favorite . . . I'm too judgemental

Yeah, honestly, I don't miss any of them.

[SlogginThroughIt]

50. Thank you for taking that stand.

[Amyishere]

52. those are the kind of people Joe Biden thinks we can "be civil" with.

I cannot be civil to those who spew hatred and bigotry and justify concentration camps, which is worse than segregation in my book. And it wasn't cool or right to be buddies with segregationists, either, and this is far worse. Border Patrol is literally taking children away from their loved ones, and no one else has done that since they forced Native American children to go to boarding schools.

They are the kind of people that laugh at a crying child and tell it to shut up. It comes from the same sadistic evil place.

[MicaelS]

5. Always have been.

Go read The Paranoid Style in American Politics.

[RKP5637]

9. Thanks!

[empedocles]

6. Going deeper into the political 'tracts', philosphical treatises, read by

Federalist Society type face leaders - get's more chilling.

Back in the day, like the 20's and 30's, Mein Kampf covered the problem makers - [yes, not exactly long for those days].

[RKP5637]

8. Probably the main difference today is it's so really apparent with the communications we have.

It seems just about in every article a core of people drift off into hatred.

[stillcool]

11. I try to remember..

that you don't know who is behind those comments, and what their agenda is. The Mueller Report really opened my eyes to the fact that the intentional amplification of certain voices projects a perception that is not real. And it's scary, which is the point. If I limit my judgement of people, to those I know to be real, it doesn't seem quite so bad. I don't know how to combat the barrage of hatred, the only thing I know to do is to try to be more discerning, about what I allow in my head.

[RKP5637]

12. Yep, excellent point you make, as to how much might be manufactured/organized hatred ... basically

mob style directed internet hatred sometimes making it difficult to ascertain what/who is behind it. Excellent point!

[GoCubsGo]

13. Yep. I'm willing to bet that much of it comes from troll armies,

much like the ones unleashed by the Russians in 2015. Those are still around, and the republicans have been paying people to troll comment sections for decades. I have stopped reading the comments sections, because they've long been infested with this kind of garbage. A lot of it is coming from a few individuals with multiple login accounts.

[RKP5637]

14. I worked in R&D decades ago, and there was a small bit of discussion if people should be

identified to their actual names, etc. on the internet, very strict controlled registration required. It went no place, were mostly brain farts. This was before the internet existed for the masses, and we in R&D were using the Arpanet. Sometimes I think back and wonder, should unique ID of the source be readily ID'ed from the IP address to the actual username/source and be public.

[Caliman73]

15. That is a very dense question. A lot to chew on.

It certainly could make a dent in trolling, but it could also stifle free speech, especially in vulnerable populations.

There are a lot of strange people out there but remember that the anonymity of the internet and the motivation to "be heard" brings out those with strong opinions but who are usually harmless in the real world.

My personal philosophy is to try never to say anything online that I could not say in person.

[RKP5637]

19. It is, it's definitely a very dense question. It would definitely stifle free speech and that would

not be good at all. I'm inclined to say anonymity is best ... and education about how responses can be construed into a mob with only a few actors.

[Caliman73]

21. definitely.

It seems very easy for one or two bad actors to rile people up. Like you said, education is probably the only real weapon against that.

[stopdiggin]

39. anonymity saves lives

Let's not forget that around the world anonymity could be a life and death issue, not just a matter of public shaming or exposure. It's a very big topic with profound implications. The knee jerk response "Well they should just .." doesn't really get it when we're talking about the internet. But we should definitely keep on talking. And remember (if I can say this without sounding paranoid) we should always be striving to empower people and not institutions. (you listening tracking apps and "facial recognition" techs?)

[RKP5637]

41. ... facial recognition IMO is a horrible misuse of technology!!! n/t

[hunter]

22. I was one of the earlier anonymous people on the internet...

... as well as having accounts linked to my real identity starting in the later 'seventies.

I had accounts on Delphi and GEnie too.

I've posted plenty of embarrassing crap under all these identities, just as I do here on DU; weird science and politics, and the rare artistic nude.

Nasty racist right wing posters, those who don't work in troll factories, have always been around, and are just like that in the so-called real world. It rarely catches up with them in "real" life because they live in stagnant bubbles of similarly minded white guys where they quickly sniff out their peers in grotesque ignorance.

When they are not posting vile things on news sites they are posting vile things on porn sites and gaming sites. This kind of shit is nothing new, the internet simply exposed it. The same assholes in high school who'd call me queerbait and beat me bloody, who'd hang out behind the temporary classrooms smoking and rating girls as sex objects, are still at it.

[RKP5637]

25. Exactly!!! "This kind of shit is nothing new, the internet simply exposed it." The assholes have

always been around, centuries. Now they are just seen/heard more by masses of people. ... and tRump recruits them. IMO all the assholes, creeps and basically horrible people ... President Asshole now has as supporters.

[bluestarone]

16. Oh man read some of them on you-tube

RUMP type people are bat fucking crazy!!!

[Lady Freedom Returns]

23. The funny part is...

Last edited Thu Jun 20, 2019, 05:33 PM - Edit history (2)

The haters view the videos. So they are helping Liberal YouTubers, like myself, make money.
They hate us, but we get to laugh when our checks come in.

My problem is I don't have enough subscribers, like s and views yet to qualify for go monetized yet. Darn it!
Hey, it's a work in progress....

Add on- My channel is Lady Freedom Rocks if anyone is interested. Please remember it's a work in progress....

[RKP5637]

26. Yep, that can be a real trip. Also Yahoo News. Sometimes they are just WTF ... no idea

why someone is on a hate trip because the sky is blue.

[Codeine]

17. Most news sites have huge comment sections

where nearly everything is the work of a core, dedicated handful of sad little people with too much time on their hands.

[RKP5637]

27. What wasteful little creepy lives they lead. Asswipes with their comments. n/t

[LAS14]

24. k & r

[HumblePi]

29. I never realized there were so many strange and threatening people in the US until I started reading

Here's the reality, they've always been out there, but social media has pulled the curtain back from their previously hidden hatreds and vitriol and allowed them to be exposed for the first time in our history. In addition to the freedom to openly hate, they have an army of MAGA wearing zealots that infuse them with confidence and enable them to step over the lines of decency that were previously uncrossed.

[RKP5637]

34. Exactly! Well said! n/t

[AlexSFCA]

30. a lot of it is foreign interference

trolls

[RKP5637]

35. And tRump loves it all the way. ... as they force the election of the most unqualified person to be

a president.

[bdamomma]

36. I wouldn't

doubt that either, they will go in full attack mode. They did it once they will do it again.

[Grasswire2]

37. local radio stations and news outlets have crazy commenters.

It is an education, for sure.

[dustyscamp]

43. I can't help, but fight back against these ppl everyday

I can't stand their lies, slander, missogyny, racism and smugness. They are driving my hatred and I hate that

[JI7]

45. so much of the comments sections on articles, videos etc are full of right wing trash

[lindysalsagal]

46. It's a free country, and anywhere between 5 and 20% have mental health issues. Concentration of thei

their collective voices on social media brings their inner demons to light. They also gain support from each other, which encourages the posting of thinking that was invisible 30 years ago.

This should wake us all up to the fact that we are our brothers' keepers, and we all must take care of everyone.

[RKP5637]

47. Yep, at the university years ago we were told studies indicated about 25% of the US population

had mental health issues, that they should have some type of support to help them. I don't know, but I would guess it's still around that ... maybe more. ... but it's really clear some need help and for the most part IMO this country does little to help them. I agree so much with what you said, "This should wake us all up to the fact that we are our brothers' keepers, and we all must take care of everyone."

[Cosmocat]

48. Decades of conservative propaganda

It did not happen over night, and it DID NOT START WITH 45.

His master skill is stoking the lesser aspects of the human spirit, and he saw a mass of tens of millions of americans who had been primed since the early 80s by AM radio, then the the expanded right wing media complex. Rush Limbaugh et all brainwashing people every day.

Well before BHO, but it took a BIG turn with 8 years of losing their minds, and distancing themselves from reality in another way to make a decent, thoughful, competenet man into whatever crazy shit they made him out to be.

45 just took the whip and cranked up the hate preaching to another level.

[RKP5637]

49. Exactly!!! He leveraged what he saw available recognizing them as a usable force ... he just had to

push the right buttons and they flocked to him.