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by dotandgtfo
876 days ago
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Not only are you shown content that you react the strongest too, people create content that they react strongly too, continuing the cycle. A user with a balanced interpretation and somewhat neutral feelings about a topic generally won't feel like they want to add something to a discussion. A user with strong opinion will more likely engage with someone with posts with the opposite viewpoint or the same viewpoint. HN is a bit of an exception because the community is reasonably high quality. But major platforms? The people who bother to write out long and neutral posts learned there is nothing to gain from doing that years ago. |
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Even here, depending on the felt "hotness" of the topic in the community, you might get a lot of negative sentiment for trying to find a middle ground or daring to look at generalized claims in more detail.
I think, in general, people now seem to require you to signal that you share their identification with a certain thought before an open discussion might become possible.
One important aspect seems to be that the higher your educational level, the more likely you are conditioned to identify with your own thoughts. This amplifies polarization on an intellectual level. There is something in it for the individual thinker taking on a new polarized belief. It adds to their identity.
The ultimate catch then is to take the position that I just outlined as an identity contrary to "all" others who are polarized. This is yet another trap.
Hence, the exercise is to practice not getting polarized while being compassionate to those who are. It's just a tendency of the human mind and nobody should be judged for falling for these traps. It's too easy to fall for it given our current conditioning.