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Why are people on the internet (and Lemmy) so quick to say someone "deserves to die"

On so many different news items, threads, etc. People are the first to claim pretty much anyone who has made a mistake, or does something they disagree with deserves to die.

Like, do some people not have the capability to empathise and realise they might have been in a similar place if they were born in a different environment…

I genuinely understand, you think a politician who has lead to countless deaths, a war criminal, or a mass rapists deserves to die.

But here people say it for stuff that falls way below the bar.

A contracted logger of a rainforest (who knows if they have the money / opportunity to support their family another way). Deserves to die.

A civilian of Nazi germany of whom we know nothing about their collaboration/agreement with the regime. Deserves to die.

Some person who was a drug dealer and then served their time. Deserves to die.

Like I don’t get it? Are people not able to imagine the kind of situations that create these people, and that it’s not impossible to imagine the large majority of people in these positions if born in a different environment?

Nougat ,

It's essentially virtue signalling, whether it's online or offline. Since nobody is "for" serial rapists, for example (the current Republican candidate for president notwithstanding), the differentiation is being against "by what degree." Calling for maiming, execution, torture, etc. positions the speaker as "better than" someone who doesn't, to some people.

SnotFlickerman , (edited )
@SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

In my local city subreddit yesterday, something like this happened.

Up until last year, high speed police chases were illegal in my state because of the increased chances of deadly accidents with uninvolved innocent citizens.

A few days ago, the first deadly accident from a police high speed chase happened.

After the cops laid down spike strips and ruined her tires, she kept driving, and eventually plowed into someone, killing them.

To me, seeing that it all started because she’s a drug addict looking for fentanyl, I don’t see it as her doing this on purpose, but it being split between her and the cops. She could have stopped, but the cops could have also chosen to not exacerbate the situation with hot pursuit and shredding her tires.

The people in the thread were comparing her to mass shooters and demanding she be in jail until she’s dead. They even pulled the FOX News and dug up her entire criminal history to show how evil she was. I get it, she fucked up and killed someone, but I would personally still call it manslaughter, not murder, since she clearly wasn’t trying to kill people, she was just trying to escape cops.

This is in a so-called progressive city deep in the US northwest.

Doburoku ,

Because they’re a stranger. I don’t know them and probably never will. Oh they did something shitty that cost someone else their life? Good, they deserve to die and I hope they burn in hell.

Because I don’t know them and they commited something I think is evil. There’s no purpose in me humanizing them. I humanize the actual people in life I interact with.

Also its impotent rage

Random123 ,

Thats brainless tbh. Thats the type of mindset that makes everyone a slave to their emotions because they all just react without thinking deeply/compassionately.

Its simply a lack of self control and critical thinking that leads people to lose their empathy

Doburoku ,

Ok. Don’t really care about what some random asshole online thinks I’m just explaining to OP.

I’m not changing.

Random123 ,

No worries bud consider it an explanation to OP to nullify yours

Well thats to be expected. Does a fish swim?

NuXCOM_90Percent , (edited )

Part of it is that purity tests are at an all time high. In large part because we are constantly inundated with Content to reinforce our world views (or the world view of the Influencer we glommed on to) constantly. So anything different is not just cognitive dissonance: it is an attack on our very core and a lie. So if someone does something we wouldn’t do? They are the evilest of evil people and are knowingly hurting whoever we care about.

But the other aspect? The internet is a great place to meet people with different life experiences. And in a lot of cases (particularly with certain politicians), we and the people we love have been directly harmed by them. All that steven universe bullshit about needing to love everyone and always finding the good goes out the window when you are increasingly watching organizations try to murder you for embracing who you are and to enslave people and turn them into breeding stock.

And the last aspect is that lemmy has a really bad infestation of tankies. Tankies who, useful idiots or intentional, tend to actively argue for destabilizing The West and increasing conflicts. So advocating for terrorism and murder helps with that.

mecfs OP ,

Appreciated your answers both on this thread and the soviet war crimes thread. Thank you.

TheImpressiveX , (edited )
@TheImpressiveX@lemmy.ml avatar

All extremists should be killed.

/s

sunzu2 ,

who decides what "extremists" means?

netvor ,
@netvor@lemmy.world avatar

/s means sarcasm.

(I myself don’t find this one funny though…)

spankmonkey ,

Moderates

sunzu2 ,

A moderate democrat is the root of a lot of evil in this here land...

spankmonkey ,

They aren’t the root, they just get in the way of clearing out the root.

shoulderoforion ,
@shoulderoforion@fedia.io avatar

fps

The_Picard_Maneuver ,
@The_Picard_Maneuver@lemmy.world avatar

It’s a psychological consequence of polarization, which occurs when you have too many people in a social group agreeing with each other.

Groupthink elevates extreme opinions.

Random123 ,

It goes both ways when youre too stuck in your bubble reinforcing your opinions or in a group thats equally stuck in their own bubble

Boozilla , (edited )
@Boozilla@lemmy.world avatar

Life is cheap on the internet, because people feel far removed (and/or “above it”). Social media “engagement” algorithms divide and isolate people from each other.

(I think as far as Lemmy is concerned, it’s just spillover / remnant behaviors from that stuff. There’s no engagement algorithm here other than what we bring in ourselves.)

Here are a some studies on it from people a lot smarter than me. (Note these are more about general toxicity and hate speech and not zeroed in on your exact question, but they may be helpful).

www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/…/full

firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/…/10076

scholars.org/…/countering-online-toxicity-and-hat…

link.springer.com/article/…/s10734-021-00787-4

This one looks at the “why” question from a political POV:

academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/2/…/7405434?lo…

mecfs OP ,

thanks, appreciate this answer

xmunk , (edited )

Anonymity and group think are serious fucking drugs here - a lot of people struggle with empathy normally but even more fail to empathize across the internet. We’re all fucking people at the end of the day but some folks struggle to see other usernames as anything but “the other”.

Additionally this thread + comment system rewards extremism and controversy over reason and nuance - its much faster to absorb a comment of someone dunking on someone else than reading a well thought out of comment… the highest votes tend to go to shorter simpler statements.

Violence is inherently simple and easy to comprehend - it’s extreme and edgy - and it’s something a lot of us constantly see on these devices when playing video games. A lot of people who espouse it on the internet don’t mentally equate advocacy for violence with actual physical violence or can’t really comprehend what actual physical violence looks and feels like.

Oh, also, memes.

infinitevalence ,
@infinitevalence@discuss.online avatar

Its a product of global connectivity but lack of in person connection. If I interact with someone regularly and personally I am unlikely to wish harm on them because they are “part of my tribe.” Via the internet and social media I dont really have a connection with this person, so its easy to think of them as an outsider or them. Once they are outside of my tribe I can remove their humanity and then their death has no moral or emotional cost to me.

RightHandOfIkaros , (edited )

Hiding behind keyboard is easy.

Why should people be nice online when there are no tangible consequences to them being evil?

mecfs OP ,

Because it isn’t just “nice” not to kill people for these things. It’s what you’d expect that large majority of people to think.

xmunk ,

The majority of people probably do think that… but they don’t consider other internet denizens people.

mecfs OP , (edited )

Hard for me not to. I’m disabled to the point I’m unable to communicate in real life (lost ability to speak or hear), and am bedridden with limited mobility. So communicating via texting/phone is my only way.

breadsmasher ,
@breadsmasher@lemmy.world avatar

anonymity allows people to be not very nice

thouartfrugal ,
@thouartfrugal@lemmy.world avatar
kent_eh ,

There’s a blast from the past.

inb4_FoundTheVegan ,
@inb4_FoundTheVegan@lemmy.world avatar

2004

There is a pretty decent chance I saw that on the day it was posted. I feel old. 😔

whyNotSquirrel ,
@whyNotSquirrel@sh.itjust.works avatar

You’re not nice! I wish you were dead!

breadsmasher ,
@breadsmasher@lemmy.world avatar

same

Lost_My_Mind , (edited )

Wait, you wish thouartfrugal were dead? Or you wish yourself were dead?

Phrasing left your statement vague.

breadsmasher ,
@breadsmasher@lemmy.world avatar

I wouldnt wish death on someone else

Lost_My_Mind ,

That’s horribly unempathetic of you.

breadsmasher ,
@breadsmasher@lemmy.world avatar

im sorry?

Lost_My_Mind ,

I just said how after a certain amount of time, people begin suffering if they live that long. We’ve never seen what happens if a person live to be 150 years old, but I assume it would be a level of suffering that people who are 105 haven’t even begun to experience, and never will.

You saying that people should live forever, just means they get about 90ish years of decent living, and then an eternity of suffering. I’m saying that everybody deserves to die.

breadsmasher ,
@breadsmasher@lemmy.world avatar

I understand

Kalkaline ,
@Kalkaline@leminal.space avatar

I’m so glad we’re all on the same page, does this mean we should be friends now?

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