At this point we, as society, need to move past the incendiary and blame culture discussions and acknowledge we have a huge problem here that we've created, and no answers for it. After these incidents occur we usually get a little tornado that kicks up shit, decimates people's lives and then we wait for the next one.
Social media was never meant to be used in the way it evolved. It grew arms and legs and was shaped by money and manipulative influence. Other platforms have now come to the forefront and a lot of this extremism is happening in a purgatory between the Internet and the hellscape of the dark web.
The only thing that has changed is the people. Years ago there was usenet and also irc, icq etc. You got the equivalent of the horsemen from X-Files, horny loners and just geeks. These modern platforms and social media have provided places where large numbers of misguided, vulnerable and suggestible people can coalesce within communities that spiral and become pits of concentrated toxicity and extremism. They are now being weaponised by religion, politics and sexuality extremists.
Even now, it's a shot of dopamine and schadenfreude for everyone when we see some of these terrible people losing their jobs (and vice versa I imagine). I'm not 100% convinced that these really unhinged people with more free time to be on the internet is a good thing. I'm not saying there shouldn't be consequences for this type of shit, but it's a short term solution that only provides good optics for the business.
Youngsters also should not be getting their formative political opinions from twitch, tiktok or x. And no this isn't a boomer thing, it's a common sense thing and an appreciation of how anything - even the most well meaning of media - can be twisted with literal logic holes and disingenuous metaphors/analogies.
It it not hard for platforms to have standards, look at TED for example. Far more valuable insight and thought provoking content even if you don't buy into the core ideas. At this point we really need to start making steps away from this chasm we're looking into. Because each time shit happens, more people dig their trench deeper and further and more people tumble in. We are really approaching the point of no return with this stuff.
