everyday sadism

You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!

You both like argument, and debate.

You: Hi

Stranger: hello

You: Do you have something in mind?

Stranger: sure, how the online landscape promotes everyday sadism

You: not direct sadism though, right?

You: more like a indirect-sadism?

You: or no?

Stranger: well, everyday sadism is sadism proper, but it's usually associated with trivialities rather than more serious stuff

Stranger: so the direct/indirect thing doesn't really come into play

You: so you mean a light sadism?

Stranger: right, you've heard of the banality of evil, right?

You: I haven't

Stranger: lol welp, lemme backspace

Stranger: banality of evil refers to how fundamentally immoral stuff creeps into everyday life through normalization

You: I just read about it

Stranger: similarly, everyday sadism refers to how we normalize sadistic behavior patterns in trivial contexts

Stranger: say, deriving pleasure from griefing a stranger in a videogame or tying to upset someone by trolling them with an extreme demeanor

You: ok

You: I was thinking of something more self-inflicted

You: as in, endlessly watching meaningless youtube content

You: or constantly, still meaninglessly, browsing reddit

Stranger: well, yeah, that's what I'm alluding to with regard to the online landscape

Stranger: social media platforms like youtube rely on consumer retention as consumers are the product sold to advertisers

Stranger: therefore, the youtube algorithm keys consumers into relevant content trains they'll sit around and watch video-after-video

Stranger: reddit is a bit more self-selecting, but it's no surprise that many are attracted to outrage culture-themed subs

Stranger: these platforms help to constitute the broader online landscape, which, I would argue, promotes everyday sadism

Stranger: to be clear, I'm not saying this is a consequence of the internet itself, but rather current social media groupings

You: Ludditum come take me away

Stranger: lol

Stranger: see

Stranger: re: my final point

Stranger: it doesn't have to be this way

You: but

You: ALL OR NOTHING

You: =)

Stranger: idk what you're getting at lol

You: nothing

You: I'm just fooling around I suppose

You: So how are you different?

You: What are you doing differently?

Stranger: I'm not--we're all bundles of contradictions yadda yadda--I

Stranger: I'm as much of a reproduction of the online landscape as is anyone immersed in it

Stranger: and, to be fair, that landscape is a reproduction of dysfunctional social institutions that existed before the advent of computers

You: eh, I don't think that too far

You: me and my perfect grammar

Stranger: my take is that the online landscape encouraging everyday sadism is a reflection of contemporary society doing more or less the same

Stranger: but there's some interplay as the internet has a kind of amplifying effect

Stranger: sadistic communities grow and previously unmatched rates

Stranger: they metastasize community ethoses directed by grievances rather than internal ideological coherence

You: I wouldn't go that far

You: It's holonic

You: Not simple cause and effect

Stranger: to be clear, I'm not offering a hard determinist account

You: I don't think it's society causing it, but both

You: together

Stranger: the dialectic corresponds to both the base and superstructure, and so it goes

Stranger: change is nonlinear etc

Stranger: that doesn't mean we shouldn't examine causes and effects?

You: I don't see what you're going with that

You: change is nonlinear

You: now it just sounds pretentious

Stranger: you think?

You: ya, what's linearity have to do with anything?

Stranger: the fact that, as you said, it's not simple cause-and-effect; there are externalities

You: I'm saying society doesn't cause it

You: it's not merely a reflection of contemporary society

You: like you were proposing

You: It's just not that simple

Stranger: I went ahead and confirmed that I'm not offering a hard determinist analysis

You: I have to go

Stranger: it is a reflection of contemporary society insofar as material conditions supersede cultural forces

Stranger: later gator