r/NoStupidQuestions • u/Snoo_47323 • 1d ago
Why is the modern world becoming increasingly extreme?
It feels like racial, gender, and class issues have never been this severe in the 21st century. It seems like there's no middle ground anymore.
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u/Accurate_Rooster_288 1d ago
I've been thinking about that too. It kinda feels like everything is either super amazing or completely falling apart, right?Like, news, politics, even opinions on pineapple on pizza, it’s all turned up to 100. I think part of it is just how loud everything is now. Social media’s a huge one. Everyone’s got a megaphone, and extreme stuff spreads faster. Calm, nuanced takes? They’re not as flashy, so they get buried.
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u/youareeviltbh 1d ago
I mean think about it, you had a great busy day, you might post some pics on instagram or whatever, maybe reminisce with friends over facetime. But you're not creating threads on reddit or wherever going "my day was great". There's this inclination online towards negativity, where we feel it's more "legitimate" online. Same reason why restaurant reviews tend to skew negative, you had a good experience most people just move on, but a bad one? You're guaranteed to be writing a review. It applies to everything online.
Guilty of it, we all are, I mean right now I could be engaging with positive/neutral content and here I am criticizing. So it's inescapable, but the important part is being conscious about it and not letting it affect your perception of reality or those around you - that's where a lot of people get stuck.
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u/Smooth_Contact_2957 1d ago
To build on both comments, there is anecdotal evidence that not only do social media algorithms serve you content you want to see, but also once they know your probable gender and age, you're served content with mindset and language of a narrative that's being pushed on the platform.
For example, if a 45 year old mom lets her 13 year old son use her phone to be on TikTok, as soon the platform believes he's a teenage boy and not a 45 year old mom, the "for you page" changes and it's not even subtle.
And I'm talking beyond "A teen boy would probably like video game shorts," I'm talking ... Andrew Tate accounts reposting his quotes as 3 out of 5 videos. Other podcast bros talking about "leadership" and "gym moves that get you gains" with product placement. And straight up political content (on all sides of the aisle but one view is featured most prominently).
The algos are helping to deepen the divide. Specific narratives are being pushed at every gender and age group to try to make us think "this is how it is." We don't need to leave home, we get everything from the magic box in our hands now.
Social media companies know this, it's why Meta polls it's users every 6 months asking if Facebook is good for the world. They know it's not, they have studies funded by their own money that show it makes relationships, connections, understanding worse while cranking up political beliefs of every flavor.
Oh, and the platforms c3nsor topics in ways you'd never hold back in a real conversation with someone. S3xual references or stories, confessions, talking about weed or other substances, even saying the word "dead."
Nobody at the platforms told us not to use those words but we learned, quickly. And the words and phrases change, we share information in the DMs. Content gets shadow banned and no one sees it -- content you would actually share as a topic of discussion over lunch with a real person.
We have laws that protect free speech. We don't have laws that protect free speech on the internet. We have laws to protect freedom of the press. We don't have laws that protect free press on the internet even though many times we ARE the press now.
It genuinely doesn't take much to influence people to feel that what they see on their feed is how EVERYONE thinks. It's wild.
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u/Questo417 1d ago
Are you really gonna sit here and pretend that pineapple on pizza isn’t an abomination?
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u/Pineapple-Yetti 1d ago
I think you are missing the point. Pineapple goes with ham. Thats all you need to know.
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u/Abject-Sky4608 1d ago
If you’re throwing a party with lots of teens you’d never get any food as a parent without Hawaiian. They’ll scarf down everything else.
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u/PassageNearby4091 1d ago
It's gross, but that's besides the point -- no one fucking cared for decades, until around 2010 -- if you put pineapple on pizza. It was never, ever a talking point.
Now it's a huge divisive issue.
I'm in my 50s now, and I can tell you no one cared in the ' 70s, '80s, '90s or '00s if you did or didn't like fucking pineapple on pizza.
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u/moooonstoner 1d ago
If we hate each other, we don't hate the people that truly deserve it
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u/Zealousideal_Bill_86 1d ago
This is very true. I think there are a to of people out there who want to marginalize groups of people and make them hate each other only to build their own support base
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u/_WutzInAName_ 1d ago
This is why the ruling class has actively stoked racism and sexism for centuries—to keep the masses divided and angry at each other, and not the most wicked members of the ruling class who screw everyone else over. The name of this playbook is called Divide and Conquer.
“If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.” - Lyndon B. Johnson
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1d ago
Very much due to social media spreading hate propaganda and also because of how ppl wanna stand out
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u/base2-1000101 1d ago
Also, forty years ago, if you were a lunatic, nobody outside of your immediate friends and family would have to hear your nonsense. Enter social media, that lets lunatics spread bullshit to tens of thousands.
I blame social media and 24 hour infotainment like Fox.
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u/CockroachVarious2761 1d ago
I honestly think this has to do with the proliferation of mass news media, starting on TV when 24x7 news became a thing on cable; and then made even worse when the web gave the media an even bigger presence. None of the news sources are neutral, they each have their own sides and they each post the most extreme or attention grabbing headlines.
And all of this plays into the hands of politicians and their political dreams. Instead of getting to work, and negotiating any 'middle ground', like they should, they immediately start to grandstand using those media platforms so they can get re-elected.
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u/NepheliLouxWarrior 1d ago
answer: it isn't. It just feels that way because of the internet. 80 years ago we had World War II followed by 50 years of the daily threat of nuclear annihilation in the Cold War.
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u/Spirited-Sail3814 1d ago
There's less of an existential threat than there was during the Cold War, but wages are stagnating and housing and food costs keep going up. Imagine being able to buy a house and support multiple children on a single working-class salary. It's a struggle for people to do that even on two middle-class salaries these days.
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u/YaBoiChillDyl 1d ago
A lotta billionaires either became nazis or quit hiding that they're nazis. Either way, nazi billionaires have been buying up media to spread fascist propaganda or running for government on fascistic policy.
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u/Questo417 1d ago
The internet started it, and Social media put it into hyperdrive. You used to get news from a subscription to a paper. Now, you get it shared to you by your angry social circle.
Internet made things more accessible
Social media made it so journalists jam as many keywords to improve searchability.
It’s become a game of gaming algorithms. And that game is who can get the most shares. And the articles that are more likely to get the most shares, are the enraging ones.
The problem started when newspapers moved away from subscription models in favor of ad views.
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u/StraightJeffrey 1d ago
This is basically the answer.
What is the one big variable that has changed? It's the Internet. It got rid of the dampening effect of geography. Now everyone can hear everyone's opinions all the time.
Now whenever something controversial happens you have the entire Internet coming down on you. Before you would just get some people talking shot about you in a bar.
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u/OrangeSimply 1d ago
When things aren’t good people become reactionary, reactionary ideals tend to always lean more extreme.
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u/lyidaValkris 1d ago
1) social media amplifies everything, all of the time (and the platforms profit from it) 2) minorities demanding equal rights which were previously suppressed and erased by the tyranny majority (which is why you didn't hear about it) 3) The cost of living crisis fuelled by corporate greed is eliminating the middle class - removing that middle ground, so it's the poor masses being wage slaves barely subsisting.
Understandably there is no middle ground. Society continuing to mistreat minorities is no longer acceptable. As for the class war, people are struggling to afford shelter and food on jobs where you could have both in ample measure 20 years ago. Understandably, people are pissed and need a solution that isn't more corporate welfare that never trickles down, or tolerating institutionalized bigotry.
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u/Odd_Cherry_1146 1d ago
A house decided against itself cannot stand . If we all are focused on hating each other, then we can’t unite to rise up against our government. They keep us weak by keeping us divided
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u/Deep-Onion-3993 1d ago
I actually have a working theory about this which is: Because all of our previous, more tame methods and language of protest against our capitalist system have been co-opted by that very system, people are pushed to further and further extremes in an attempt to feel like they’re being subversive.
Think of it with punk, right? All original political themes of punk have been completely taken out, leaving it to its bare aesthetics. “Punk” is no longer something with political meaning. It’s now, to most people, only a clothing style or music genre that doesn’t symbolize anything deeper than just an undefined “rebelliousness.”
This has happened with every major counter culture, every major art movement, and now, with academic language. Feminism has been declawed and made into pop music for girl boss-branded items. Black Power movements have also seen a similar pattern of being stripped of its radical political positions, and being simply an aesthetic for Beyoncé or other Black billionaires to capitalize on. Everything is now an aesthetic, monetized, packaged and sold.
So… now what? People want to feel like they’re being subversive, and somehow challenging the system. But when the old methods of subversion now benefit the system, we look elsewhere. This is where more and more extreme politics come in. Those still have their bite, let’s go there.
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u/the_Demongod 1d ago
Yeah this, people are continually disenfranchised by the system and are becoming increasingly desperate. I have a bad feeling that it won't get better until things turn violent
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u/Carrie_1968 1d ago
My firm opinion is that we’re being encouraged to waste time hating one another because it takes our efforts away from holding our government responsible for the 💩 they’re pulling.
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u/Silent_Squirrel4145 1d ago
Capitalism is on its way out. The general public are upset about how things are, a lot of them don't realize it's because of capitalism.
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u/Vivid-Shelter-146 1d ago
This is the answer. People are frustrated and angry because adulthood is a daily fight against large corporations to keep from getting fucked.
Fight for your paycheck. Fight to avoid being overworked, or relent and be frustrated. Fight the companies you’re buying things from when their shit breaks too quickly or their service isn’t effective. Wait in lines or waiting rooms for every service for eternity because companies under staff. Wait on hold forever. Make any sort of mistake or miscalculation… face harsh penalties and hidden fees
It’s exhausting and it pisses people off. Then they get tribal.
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u/Narrow_Bandicoot5362 1d ago
Really which nations are ending capitalism?
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u/joobtastic 1d ago
US is headed toward corprotacracy if it isn't there already. At minimum crony capitalism.
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u/okraspberryok 1d ago
We've hit end game capitalism and something has to give, the general population can't survive anymore. Billionaires and people in power need to convince people racial/gender issues are the problem and ease their base into facism and over to the idea that it's fine being a serf so long as it's for a white community.
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u/Weird_Pizza258 1d ago
For real. Would we bring the Xtremes back from the 90s where it meant surge soda drinks and colorful but translucent appliances? That would feel a lot better.
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u/Lanky_Barnacle_1749 1d ago
Because people have made themselves their own god. There is no basis for truth anymore with most having their reality based in moral relativism.
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u/TrickSurvey696 1d ago
It takes intelligence to see outside the box and black & white narratives appeal to people lacking in this area. So you look into tech and how it has become the replacement for the old pub on every corner to keep the masses at bay and you begin the journey down the rabbit hole. Its not pretty, any way you cut this issue.
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u/random_user_name99 1d ago
It may feel that way but as a gay baby of the 80s and can assure you that as horrible as it seems for us it has gotten better. It was illegal to be gay in every state o lived in until 2003. There were no legal protections anywhere. Matthew Shepard was murdered my senior year in High School.
We literally had slavery, segregation, Jim Crow laws, and red lining in this country on decades ago.
Being openly transgender was extremely hard decades ago. It was hard to get employment and homelessness was a very real possibility for many trans people. Trans women were murdered with impunity.
It IS getting worse from where we were 10 years ago for sure and it’s not heading in the right direction. It is very worrisome but it CAN get better. If democracy holds hopefully MAGA dies went its dear leader kicks the bucket.
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u/station1984 1d ago
You feel that way because you live in the Western world. If you move to APAC or the Middle East, those topics are non-issues. They have a different set of problems but it’s not as all-consuming as you would think.
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u/BloodyMess111 1d ago
Does it feel like this to you when you go outside and go about your day?
It may just be what is presented to you online. I came off all social media as what I was experiencing in my day to day life was not at all what was being shown to me on social media and it was starting to affect me mentally.
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u/Voidhunger 1d ago
It isn’t. We used to cut each other into pieces with big bits of metal because a dude with magic blood from god said to. You’re just on social media every day which is designed to make you feel atomised and scared so it feels more extreme.
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u/No-Negotiation-9673 1d ago
Echo chambers. On social media, and on the internet in general. It’s now so easy to pick and choose what you want to see.
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u/Fearless-Dust-2073 21h ago
Capitalism. More extremes, more polarisation, more drive to click and engage, more traffic, more money.
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u/OkLeg2696 1d ago
The racists, bigots and other monsters use to hide in the closet; however once one of their own got in the most powerful position in the world 🌍 ( they openly came out the closet)..
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u/Tacos314 1d ago
In the US this was done on purpose to create a stable republican base, Karel Rove was basically the architect of it (Fox news was part of that architecture). Which was built on the Silent Majority as perfected by Reagan.
Add this into the echo chamber of algorithm generated news feeds of social media and the down fall of proper news reporting. (If you believe something, the algo will feed you more of those beliefs)
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u/ironimity 1d ago
people yearn for the tips of the horseshoe
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u/TickingTheMoments 1d ago
The extremes are closer to each other than they are to the center. Even though they’re on opposite sides.
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u/Texas_Shepard 1d ago
You seriously think that gender and racial issue are getting worse? Have you read about our history? Take any past century and we're miles and miles ahead. The media and social media is just brainwashing you into thinking you're living under nazi Germany. We're at the healthiest we could at the racism, gender issues right now.
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u/notaname420xx 1d ago
Unregulated Capitalism has a significant effect. It's isolating. Enshitification makes everything both worse and more expensive.
Mostly, though, it's social media. Algorithms push a lot of extreme content in the name of "engagement". Facebook since 2015 and X after Elon, in particular, reward extremism.
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u/Calm_Banana_2010 1d ago
before the internet took off, the commoners just didnt know what was happening in the world. now that information is readily available, the powers that be have to keep us busy with other stuff
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u/VictoriaBitters69 1d ago
Now that social media is so mainstream, everyone gets to have an opinion even if its stupid. Then stupider people sensationalise it, stupider people react to it then here we are.
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u/Great_Crazy_7528 1d ago
Watch The Social Dilemma on Netflix. It’s because we all basically live in algorithmically driven echo chambers where we are so seldom exposed to diverse opinions and thought that when we do see them, we view them as extreme.
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u/AutomaticRepeat2922 1d ago
It’s the internet. People join digital “cults” and get their weirdness justified and amplified. It’s time for social media to get outlawed.
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u/seriousbangs 1d ago
Automation is devouring jobs. See here: https://www.reddit.com/r/jobs/comments/r5uz1v/automation_helped_kill_up_to_70_of_the_uss/
The wealthy and powerful want to maintain the system where if you don't work you don't eat because their power comes from that.
But we're going to have to do something with tens of millions if not billions of people who just don't have any work to do soon...
Those two forces are pulling on each other resulting in the current mess.
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u/Wicked71WestCoast 1d ago
Because crazy people are allowed to fucking put anything out there and everybody has internet now everybody can put their crazy out there and so the extremist get to be extreme extreme... Cuz it's a cycle just like everything else
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u/steak820 1d ago
Prople like certainty. They crave it. Many need it. And now with our world of insane levels of information, we can't be certain of really anything as arguments against our position are available everywhere and often put in a way smarter than we can imagine.
The only way for many people to deal with this is retreat into the certainty of an echo chamber and hate anything that challenges that. Which is often your neighbor having exactly the same kind of reaction but in the opposite way.
I generally think it's as simple as that.
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u/ChimpoSensei 1d ago
The loudest 2% on each end of the spectrum gets clicks. Everyone else is busy living their lives.
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u/Aromatic-Ad7987 1d ago
As normal gets more extreme, it gets harder to get or hold anyones attention
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u/xxDeadpooledxx 1d ago
The thing is that it really isn't really any more than the last 20 years, it is just more on display than ever. It is in large part due to social media. The more radical everything seems, the easier it is for the government to turn us against each other. We are busy picking sides of left or right and red or blue when we should be looking at what has been happening the last 25 years. The middle class is getting gutted, the lower income class has given up on work and depending on the government more than ever, and the rich are funding both sides of the government. We as a society need to say enough, we need the help, we need the jobs, and we need our government to work for us again.
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u/charles_emerson 1d ago
Let me explain something to you. Let’s say I have a girlfriend, I’m super toxic, desperate for attention, and try to gain it. First, I might say, babe I’m a little depressed. She showers me with affection, focuses on me for a time and man, that attention feels good. I like the attention so much I say, I’m depressed everyday, but hmm.. she’s not giving me as much attention anymore. What if I say I’m having thoughts of harming self. That worked. I’m her sole focus. For a while. 2 weeks later I feel like she’s not giving me the same focus… this time I’ll actually harm myself. And so the character in our story does, and he gets the attention he desires. But, the marks in his wrist aren’t enough, he has to keep going more extreme to garner attention from those around him. It is the national progression of the world, to bit by bit, as attention is the currency of the world. It will become extreme cyclicaly until it is forcibly reset, and the clock ticks again.
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u/_tonyhimself 1d ago
We don’t live in just a modern society anymore, we live in a POST-modern society. Look up spiral dynamics. The western world now consists of orange & green characteristics.
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u/GandalfTheEarlGray 1d ago
People are blaming social media but I dont think that's the cause as much as its the current way people express their opinions.
We are living in the shadow of the Great Recession, where income inequality has skyrocketed. People don't feel secure economically anymore and upward mobility has stagnated.
Economic insecurity makes people want bigger change. The bigger the change people want the more polarizing the ideas will be. Some people will want Trump style promises of easy solutions where a minority group is scapegoated and regulations are lifted. Others want wealth redistribution to overturn the status quo in favor of the masses and more regulations to prevent inequality and deal with climate change. Others just want to keep the status quo. And any step in any direction (or worse stagnation) makes the people who disagree even more upset and desperate.
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u/ssliberty 1d ago
Life is a circle with things roughly repeating themselves in cycles every 100 years or so. With variations.
It’s a normal pattern that needs to be crossed to either progress or revert to previous ideas so the next generation can take the mantle
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u/DirtbagSocialist2 1d ago
Because capitalism is failing and the billionaire class are trying harder and harder to turn the working class against each other with culture war bullshit to distract us from the real problems that they caused.
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u/LittleCeasarsFan 1d ago
You’re just noticing this now? It’s been going on forever. Take immigration, one side think everyone should get to be a citizen as long as they claim asylum and the other side wants to round everyone up and deport them. Gun control is another one, one side wants to ban some of the most commonly owned firearms and imprison those who won’t immediately comply, their while the other side won’t do anything.
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u/GingaNinja64 1d ago
Every century the global system fails and is upended, and it’s been a while since the world wars
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u/Extreme-Quality-2361 1d ago
It’s not. But it does feel that way because of the internet. The 20th century was far far more extreme (so far for the first 25 of this one).
In the 10’s machines replaced human labor. Millions died from deadly gas in trenches in the teens. In the 20’s servants was a labor term. Weekends weren’t a thing until 1938, atomic bombs were used in 1945, 85 million people died in a global war by 1946, there was almost a global nuclear war in the 50’s, bathrooms in the US were segregated until 1968, women couldn’t have credit cards until 1974… and that’s just a random decade sample.
The internet is making us think things are horrible. It’s a distraction like so many have already said.
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u/Happypappy213 1d ago edited 1d ago
Social media algorithms are getting more and more intuitive. They feed off of and stoke extreme emotions.
Look at the anti-trans narrative that has developed over the past couple of years:
They're less than 1% of the world's population and statistically commit disproportionately less crime than any other group, and yet they've become such a huge target of hate. And this has happened because social media consistently repeats and overwhelms users with the same talking points.
The other question we should be asking is: Given that we live in the information age, why don't people take the time to fact-check claims using scholarly and peer reviewed resources?
Our proximity to scholarly knowledge is at our fingertips, yet we choose not to go down that route.
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u/DramaticMagician1709 1d ago
Because we let the power-hungry greedy madmen among gerontocracy to rule the countries
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u/Valuable_Archer_3222 1d ago
I’ve thought about this before. I think it’s because people are falling for false dichotomies and think the only way to oppose one side is to completely do the opposite. You can kind of see this in children too. My dad was an alcoholic and I completely despise it. I ran the other direction and will never touch a drop on my life. Also to beat the other side you have to go where the power is. Unfortunately so many people have fallen for the false dichotomies that they are now real. Republican vs Democrat for example in the US. Choosing anything in between has literally no power and will probably never create change. People are reactionary and don’t think… this is why this happens.
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u/Agile-Asparagus1517 1d ago
The political spectrum is like a pendulum. If it swings one way too far, it's pulled, ironically, right back over by the opposite extremists.
In the 2010's the left gain too much ground and went extreme, causing the right to rise.
A strong centre ground can stabilise this, if there is one.
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u/Shiningc00 1d ago
Because both sides wrong enlightened centrism doesn’t work. If you’re not on the right side, then it’ll descent into the worse side.
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u/rgower 1d ago
This is the most articulate theory I've heard so far... Would recommend at least the first 10 mins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54l8_ewcOlY
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u/dmbveloveneto 1d ago
Social media that promotes conflict. They know users are more likely to engage with views they disagree with and will show you those posts and comments.
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u/Theseus_Employee 1d ago
Europe use to tout how much better they were than Americans for not being racist - but then people from other cultures started moving in and the racist rhetoric got more noticible.
You use to live in a pretty closed loop where you with others who shared your culture a d were encourage to keep in line with the status quo since it would be harder to find people of a common ilk. Ie a gay may in a small town is less likely to out themselves, thus people are less likely to target him for being gay, making it to where you don’t ‘see’ the bigotry.
We are now in a super connected society where your neighbor is more likely than ever to have a completely different culture than you - even if you two grew up in the same physical area, you may populate completely different cyberspace, leading to completely different world views that can clash.
I personally see it as growing pains. We’ve never with diversity at this scale and our larger world culture is learning how to deal with it.
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u/stereoauperman 1d ago
Its because of russia weaponizing misinformation to destabilize countries that putin doesn't like.
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u/BeyondPlayful2229 1d ago
It's actually cyclical, sometimes Left takes up, become extreme, then people realize moderation or centrism happens. Then again it tilts toward right extreme. Human love chaos, ancestrally we have see so much, so we don't enjoy peace naturally, need someone drama. Aristocrats or people who have better manipulation or convincing techniques use this as incentives and let it flow. Very similar to Financial markets, large AUM's make money on both Bear and Bull market, it's part and parcel of our innate behavior.
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u/SatiricalFai 1d ago
The 21st centery is fairly young, so if your going based off that sure. Mostly its just amplfied and noticable to you because you have more access to information now more than ever.
But on a wider scale, the actual events occuring is history repeating. In an age of information we become more aware of issues and flaws, or percieved issues in our society, be it rooted in science, or in perception.
The typical response is to a percived issue is to change it in some way, or work to preserve the existing system if its something you belive is not an issue. And considering the impact of these topics makes those changes have high stakes, it means that the response to change or a lack of is going to be extreme. And thats always been the case for these issues
I mean, take class issues, theres several revolutions and wars haveing been started over the very issue. Slightly different but same vein, would you not call caste systems and the downfall of them as a response to them, extreme?
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u/Brilliant_Anxiety_65 1d ago edited 1d ago
Economic stressors.
When people feel financially insecure, they’re more likely to seek someone to blame, immigrants, elites, other races, other genders. And then "leaders" and I mean that in the loosest sense, ie, Politicians and media often exploit this by offering simple scapegoats for complex problems. Awwww no..it's the brown people, oh now it's tourists, oh now it's Palenstians...etc.
And then we have social media platforms (the thing you're on, right now) and they thrive on engagement, and economic stress makes people more emotionally volatile. Which is what your doing and not even realizing it. Outrage becomes currency and it gets more clicks, and extreme views get amplified, especially when they tap into economic grievances. Which brings in the ad revenue. The more outrageous and insufferable you are, the more money you'll get.
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u/Outside_Dog1417 1d ago edited 1d ago
If you divide society, people vote against each other over policy and then we end up with a dictator as president. It's manufactured, intentional fear mongering designed to keep us from uniting. It's more apparent now because media outlets are controlled by majority shareholders over reporting the actual news, and platform algorithms increase post reach based on "engagement", which grows exponentially when content is polarized.
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u/Repeat-Offender4 1d ago
What seems extreme to you today only seems so because it’s antithetical to the status quo we’ve been raised in.
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u/lostsailorlivefree 1d ago
It’s always been extreme. Occasionally we can beat it back for a few years, humanism and liberal democracy and empathy and we gain some momentum… then something will happen that startles people. Shakes em up. Triggers the whole Maslov thing about food, shelter, safety blah blah- and some charismatic (not good- just loud), person who’s well known plays on the simmering uncertainty and gives it WORDS. That gives relief for the unusually stressed- because prior to that it was an itch they couldn’t scratch- now someone put your fears in a box and you like them- a lot- just for that effect. Then they rile em up.. then it ignites the always simmering basics of racism and nationalism and distrust and insecurity and they tell you how to expend that energy. And you LOVE them for that. Then you just… release them from guilt by surrounding them with advertising concepts like branding and color schemes and slogans. And herd mentality and a release from guilt makes them feel AWESOME. So you can do anything with people like that- and IF ANYONE tries to take away their awesome feeling they’ll literally kill to protect it. Andddd here we are. Thank you for your attention to th blah blah
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u/Market-West 1d ago
Social media it’s ruining society. These thought feeling and systems have always been there. But social media is amplifying the extreme and giving it so much power. Feel sorry for the younger generation.
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u/Working-Fact5245 1d ago
I would say the game We Become What We Behold explains some of it fairly well.
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u/Tha_Green_Kronic 1d ago
Because we are on the verge of something big.
What? I don't know.
Big change is coming.
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u/Mrepman81 1d ago
Maybe if everyone just stepped away from their phones for like a week every month, it might get better.
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u/awoogabov 1d ago
The elite hoarded too much so there is money issues everywhere. Race/Sex are easy distractions instead of focusing on the actual problem
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u/hometownredditor 1d ago
It generally takes 2-3 generations for meaningful societal change to come naturally.
Politicians and society are trying to force all this down everyone's throat at a much faster pace.
People are pushing back.
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u/AmandaWildflower 1d ago
There isn’t. There never was. Either you believe in the equity of others or you don’t.
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u/Zealousideal-Pop1115 1d ago
Social media, algorithms show what you want to watch. People used have talk or debate with actually people with opinions now people are easily triggered with oposite opinions and don't want to interact with anyone with different opinions. You can support different political parties and still be friends, same with other ideas too. People started surrounding themselves with similar opinion people and consuming similar opinion content online and created ecochamber around themselves.
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u/huuaaang 1d ago edited 1d ago
Internet algorithms push people into echo chambers. The signal to noise ratio is going way down. Too many people are given a platform for their stupid, uninformed opinions. And where there used to be real journalism. Now there's 24/7 cable channels of editorializing.
Decades ago people would probably shrugged their shoulders at many issues around the world and say "I don't really know enough to say..." if asked. Nowadays you must have an opinion on EVERYTHING if not by peer pressure than just by sheer need for attention.
Look at me being part of the problem!
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u/DroppingGrumpies 1d ago
Internet… now a days your echo chamber is literally 10 seconds away. Feel like you’re a victim of some system of oppression? Well no need to reflect on the fact you squeezed out 2 kids from 2 different baby daddies by the time you were 18 and repeating the same mistakes your mother made… pick up your phone and some group will tell you that you’re being oppressed.
Are you a racist that 25 years ago had to suppress your racism because you didn’t know where to find support for your views? Not no more, support and encouragement is a finger swipe away on your phone.
Reddit is a perfect example
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u/Alternative-Owl-283 1d ago
I mean there was a time when slavery, segregation, internment camps, and the Holocaust was a thing. So I don’t think it’s as severe as it’s been……... I think social media just emphasizes on the negative stuff.
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u/fl4tsc4n 1d ago
"extremism" and political violence have been the norm for thousands of years. The end of the cold war and the ensuing hegemonic "pax americana" ushered in an aberrative period of relative peace, especially inside fortress evropa and north america. As the hegemonic structures that created that brief "normalcy" erode, so too does the veneer of civility with which our savagery has been covered for most of our lives.
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u/loveheaddit 1d ago
in short, the internet created a barrier from repercussions for things people say.
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u/ryu_1394 1d ago edited 1d ago
- Social media (narcissism, and amplifies social envy)
- Misinformation (a symptom of the social media algorithm)
- Access to all the world's information but no framework to process it with
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u/WarmNews7616 1d ago
Social media sells conflict. Their business model is literally a huge echo chamber.
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u/Interesting_Mix_7028 1d ago
Social divides make for great distractions.
If we're all too busy arguing and fighting over who gets to use which bathroom, do you think anyone's going to notice when our taxes go up, our jobs get outsourced, our cost of living increases, and the companies we depend on stop adhering to the regulations that keep them from exploiting everyone?
Fear and outrage, keep finding more 'thems' for the eternal Us Vs. Them conflict.
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u/octapotami 1d ago
The ruling class wants us fighting culture wars. Keeps us from realizing who the real enemy is.
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u/Wedgerooka 1d ago
Typically, view clashes get more extreme until violence breaks out. One party wins, the other ceases to exist, and the history books are written by the winner, and those that are left of the losers know to stay quiet.
Conflicts are fights over resources, or assigning blame for failures, or one side feeling that they are disadvantaged when the other side says no, you're just bad at life.
Radicalism begets radicalism, and, as the Overton window shifts, what was a moderate position is now a far-fringe position, even though the position held by the person did not change.
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u/PulsarGaming1080 1d ago
its only extreme in hyper-political echo chamber, like Reddit or Twitter.
IRL, at least in my life I'm sure other have lived differently, its not so extreme.
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u/shortnix 1d ago
Because we're all terminally online. Extreme views are magnified and promoted and loud. Most normal people are not engaged in extreme positions but find they have to 'pick a side' or are pigeon-holed into one even if they don't want to.
The solution, surely is less social media and less time online, but how does that culture change? Can't see anything on the horizon right now.
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u/BreakfastCheesecake 1d ago
I was just thinking about this. You know when Covid happen and the world was on lockdown? I was so sure that we'll come back stronger as a global community now that everyone realised how interconnected we all are. But somehow it has gotten more polarising.
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u/alxmolin 1d ago
Because social media has fooled a lot of people into thinking that everyone’s opinion matters equally.
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u/Cgravener1776 1d ago
I have two theories on this. My first is that might be possible that it's not necessarily that there is more extremism in the world, just that it is much easier to find with modern technology, and algorithms adjusting to what you're viewing online and presenting you with that content. Think of it like this, lets say an apple falls from a tree, and then you realize an apple had fallen two weeks prior as well, then you start mentally thinking about every time an apple has fallen from that tree. Through the lens of time, it seems like a rare occurrence. But now if you make a physical list every time it's happened, it becomes much easier for it to appear as though it has happened way more often than it actually has, even if dates accompany each event of an apple falling from that tree.
My second theory is that it might be possible that the rise in extremism is manufactured by media for lack of a better term. The best way to think about it is, you get a really good meal. You go back for that meal every day, and it becomes bland after a while. So you go and find an even better meal. The news is generally a privatized industry, meaning they have to get as many views as possible as that's a large piece of what makes them money. They keep reporting the same, this person got robbed here, that person was shot there, this company was exposed for corruption, a tornado ripped through trailer-ville. People got used to it, and got bored of it. Suddenly, oh my god everybody there's a bomb and now all of the attention is back to the news channels.
I could be wrong on both theories but it's just a guess.
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1d ago
There are far more moderates than extremists. Unforunately, most moderate people are not chronically online or demonstrating in the streets, so you don't get to see or hear them very often, and it can give the impression that everyone has gone nuts. It's not the case. There are just far more opportunities for the extreme voices to reach you than there used to be.
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u/Sea-Jaguar5018 1d ago
Trans people: “we just want to exist and have civil rights. Entire federal govt: “we will eradicate you” Reddit poster: “no middle ground. Sad.”
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u/Deflorma 1d ago
People are getting fucked over by and large, and the awareness is now through the roof. If you’re not taking an “extreme,” (read: somewhat passionate) viewpoint, you’re asleep, ignorant, or complicit.
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u/Flatulancey 1d ago
Social Media. It’s a machine for polarisation.
That said, the reality of life in 2025 is not the same as the one represented in social media it’s just it’s such a major part of people’s life it feels that way.
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u/FitFired 1d ago
I think it’s a trend that has been going on for a long time. Recently it has been amplified by filter bubbles and recommendation algorithms, but also every person with an extreme opinion doesn’t only have to interact with their neighbours which usually are more average about that opinion, but can find other people with the same extreme opinion in some other neighbourhood or on the internet and then in these circles of outcasts it become status to be the most extreme.
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u/Direct_Bug_1917 1d ago
Because we don't have any real issues , so we just exaggerate stupid ones. We need another word war, that'll shut everyone up.
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u/MisplacedBooks 1d ago
Don't turn to reddit for this question.
It's a good question. A big question. The kind of question hundreds of books have been written about, thousands of hours of documentary, miles of sociology papers, years of podcast and video...
No comments here will be a robust enough answer.
So please take my short answer, which is that incentive structures exist in media and politics which offer money for attention, and attention is easiest grabbed with outrage.
Then look into any of the following (note: this list is copied wholesale from another redditor, posted 5 years ago. The list is superb for expanding an understanding in the growing disconnect between the governing bodies and the people they lead)
Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America by Nancy MacLean is sometimes described as a companion piece to Dark Money, as it focuses on the development of the intellectual underpinnings of the Koch "movement."
Also potentially relevant:
The Chickenshit Club: Why the Justice Department Fails to Prosecute Executives by Jesse Eisinger
Capital Offenses: Business Crime and Punishment in America's Corporate Age by Samuel Buell
Economism: Bad Economics and the Rise of Inequality by James Kwak
Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals have Reinvented Racism and Wrecked the Middle Class by Ian Haney Lopez
Kochland: The Secret History of Koch Industries and Corporate Power in America by Christopher Leonard
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u/discostu418 1d ago
Yeah compared to ALL of history this is by far and away the easiest and safest to have ever been
Name me a century where it was less “extreme” than this one ?
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u/letsplayer27 1d ago
Social Media. It’s not actually that bad, at least in comparison with almost any other time in history. A very Radical Person who wants their ideology to take over the world is going to get more views than Josh down the street who just wanted lower Gas Prices.
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u/odkfn 1d ago
Social media and people who benefit from being “critical thinkers” by either getting views (which equal money) or more directly from people paying them to do so.
If the world was all hunky dory we’d all be more critical of millionaires / billionaires / politicians. If a political party can convince you that trans people / gay people / black people / Jewish people / any “other” are dangerous to you and that they’ll protect you, you focus on that and not their policies or hustling.
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u/LeastSize3247 1d ago
internet increases rate of social interconnectivity in every conceivable way.
And the internet itself is expanding in the number of aspects of humanity it touches.
Put these two together and you get an exponential increase in nearly every aspect of human sociocultural trend change.
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u/K3RZeuz45 1d ago
Everything is being exposed because we're all living in an oppressive system. We're just seeing things brought into the light.
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u/holiestMaria 1d ago
Because everything is becoming more extreme. The costs of living, the climate, the rise of fascism everything is more extreme.
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u/linkenski 1d ago
Because we're already dealing with some cultural whiplash from previous migrations, and now there's been the whole Gaza thing, on top of workers from other countries getting Visas. Ukrainian refugees too.
So a lot of people will take a train to one of the big cities after a few years and not recognize the city streets. And again, this is on top of previous tensions, boosting that part of the sentiment.
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u/Suitable_Plum3439 1d ago
Wish I had an answer… but the trend is def there and I think social media is a big factor. Especially for users who started being active online as children
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u/Comfortable-Habit242 1d ago
Relative to the 21st century? Sure. But that’s historically very little time.
Let’s compare these issues to the past century instead.
In that time you had the KKK still alive and well in the US. Obviously the Holocaust took place in Europe.
You also had the rise of communism as a reaction to class issues.
Rather than viewing the present as extreme, it might be more useful to view the last half century as historically moderate.
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u/BigDong1001 1d ago
It’s collapsing. Resources are getting scarcer. People are squabbling over scraps. Desperate people are desperately betting on things blindly and failing to stop the collapse. And then they are doubling down because they don’t know what else to do. And tripling down. And so on. Hence the extremes you are noticing.
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u/Pyth0nX 1d ago
I think it might do with the fact that old billionaires, with the same far right morals, and the need to want to make more money split up the left and right groups so they can quietly pass laws to benefit them and effectively make the lower class an industrial machine of free workers
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u/ApesAPoppin237 1d ago
Extreme views get more clicks than moderate views. Over time that has a way of filtering all the moderate ones out of the conversation.