BlueSky Thinking Summary

The article focuses on quite a broad issue: how toxic online political discourse has become.

Contrary to prevailing scholarship, it would point out that toxicity really isn't based on political differences but on some people who are inherently toxic across a variety of topics of discussion.

In research from Northwestern's Michalis Mamakos and Kellogg's Eli Finkel, the researchers analyzed Reddit comments covering a diverse range of subreddits for rudeness, scored with AI.

These findings yield a surprising discovery: users across politically charged subreddits are similarly toxic in other subreddits that are not political in nature.

That is to say, there is primarily an issue with individual users rather than an issue occurring specifically because of the context within the politically polarized echo chamber.

The findings bring out the misleading nature of assuming toxicity unique to partisans and the role of individual responsibility toward ensuring online constructive dialogue.

Ultimately, fighting online toxicity could come down more to a question of personal restraint rather than platform intervention—with a call upon the user to learn self-restraint from engaging and amplifying rude behavior.

At a time when the digital sphere reverberates with divisive rhetoric, getting at the very fundamentals of online toxicity shows how to reclaim civil discourse in this virtual public square.