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Disproportionate amount of bad online behaviour stems from psychological issues

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Re: Disproportionate amount of bad online behaviour stems from psychological issues

#21

Post by frumper »

droopyEyelids wrote: post #11

The article's actual title is "Are Twitter trolls mentally ill?" It makes me want to talk about how the concept of the troll has evolved from something specific to something very general. I glanced through the article and none of the behaviors it listed are what I'd consider troll behaviors. They're just the patterns of mild mental illness. Trolls, in my old-man's definition, are almost a type of hunter, looking to b…

I'd agree with that. I view a troll as having no ideals they cling to. They have a goal to provoke and incite with the least amount of effort and that usually involves taking a controversial stance for that given audience. It's what makes arguing with trolls, or feeding trolls, so pointless.

Re: Disproportionate amount of bad online behaviour stems from psychological issues

#22

Post by ben_w »

hogFeast wrote: post #13
droopyEyelids wrote: post #11

The article's actual title is "Are Twitter trolls mentally ill?" It makes me want to talk about how the concept of the troll has evolved from something specific to something very general. I glanced through the article and none of the behaviors it listed are what I'd consider troll behaviors. They're just the patterns of mild mental illness. Trolls, in my old-man's definition, are almost a type of hunter, looking to b…

Would you call Sacha Baron Cohen a troll?

Speaking for myself and not @droopyEyelids, absolutely.

Re: Disproportionate amount of bad online behaviour stems from psychological issues

#23

Post by jmcgough »

I think there's some truth to this, but the trans community is a really awkward group to try to fit into your argument.

As a trans person, I think there's a lot of toxicity to the online trans community, and there's certainly more prevalent mental illness (not surprising when you deal with frequent harassment, discrimination, being disowned by family). But trans people act like that because they feel like they're constantly under attack, and they have good reason to feel that way, given the flood of anti-trans legislation. That constant vigilance is exhausting, and as awful as it is, many of them (especially younger people) have limited power to protect themselves so they lash out at any perceived threat against trans people. It's toxic, and probably creates more enemies than allies, but I understand it.

A more interesting example would be toxic league of legends players. There's a few very popular, very toxic streamers (e.g. Tarzaned) who seem like they're struggling with depression or other issues.

Re: Disproportionate amount of bad online behaviour stems from psychological issues

#24

Post by news_to_me »

chrismeller wrote: post #10

This is one of the main reasons I feel like the current culture of never disagreeing with anyone so you can never possibly offend anyone is ultimately toxic. As a person with (currently treated and doing fine) psychological issues I don’t expect any single comment to get through to you, but if there are never any negative indicators that you are the problem, rather than everyone else… there is a mathematically insign…

I totally agree. In my friendships, I highly value people that will tell me when they disagree, and I try to avoid people who are hard to disagree with. Some of my favorite people are stereotypical “New York” types.

Re: Disproportionate amount of bad online behaviour stems from psychological issues

#25

Post by wpietri »

I"m glad to see this point made:

> I’m not saying that all online bad behaviour is because of mental health issues or personality disorders: lots of people are just dickheads, and there’s no need to pathologise them.

One of the important lessons I took away from a milestone book on abuse, "Why Does He Do That?" is that people really want to excuse harmful behaviors as illness. When often, repeated bad behavior happens because it works for the person in question.

Re: Disproportionate amount of bad online behaviour stems from psychological issues

#26

Post by bingidingi »

slver wrote: post #12
bingidingi wrote: post #9

>About 70% of DID patients are also diagnosed with BPD, and the two conditions are often considered part of the same spectrum. >I’m certainly not saying that all trans people have personality disorders or that being trans is a mental illness. A little bit of whiplash on this one. Despite the sentence or two claiming what the author is purportedly not doing, the rest of the article seems to indicate otherwise. If you…

So we can't discuss trans people as a category and their correlations? There's a line between avoiding harmful stereotypes that lead to unfair discrimination and willful ignorance or misrepresentation of facts in service of political correctness. It's extremely hard to say where this line is. But we still have to be aware of its existence.

I'm not saying it can't or shouldn't be discussed, but the author was so conscious of the correlations made in the article that they felt the need to literally write that they're not trying to make those correlations.

There's no shortage of people linking transgendered people and mental illness, just as there's no shortage of people linking homosexuality to mental illness. If you're not trying to strengthen those assumptions, then use different examples... it seems lazy to just try to hand-wave it away in a sentence rather than using a different example.

Re: Disproportionate amount of bad online behaviour stems from psychological issues

#28

Post by 3grdlurker »

chrismeller wrote: post #10

This is one of the main reasons I feel like the current culture of never disagreeing with anyone so you can never possibly offend anyone is ultimately toxic. As a person with (currently treated and doing fine) psychological issues I don’t expect any single comment to get through to you, but if there are never any negative indicators that you are the problem, rather than everyone else… there is a mathematically insign…

> the current culture of never disagreeing with anyone so you can never possibly offend anyone

I'm not sure what you're talking about--I wonder if this is just your extremely subjective experience of the internet? Because I thought that the internet lately has been nothing but disagreement.

Re: Disproportionate amount of bad online behaviour stems from psychological issues

#29

Post by wpietri »

chrismeller wrote: post #10

This is one of the main reasons I feel like the current culture of never disagreeing with anyone so you can never possibly offend anyone is ultimately toxic. As a person with (currently treated and doing fine) psychological issues I don’t expect any single comment to get through to you, but if there are never any negative indicators that you are the problem, rather than everyone else… there is a mathematically insign…

I like your point, but I think you take it too far here:

> if there are never any negative indicators that you are the problem, rather than everyone else… there is a mathematically insignificant chance you will ever realize something might be wrong

A lot of my self-improvement has come not because of explicit negative feedback, but through paying attention to people and reflecting on who I want to be in the world. That's not to say that any approach is generally superior. People have all sorts of ways of dealing with the world.

Re: Disproportionate amount of bad online behaviour stems from psychological issues

#30

Post by bingidingi »

zepto wrote: post #19
bingidingi wrote: post #9

>About 70% of DID patients are also diagnosed with BPD, and the two conditions are often considered part of the same spectrum. >I’m certainly not saying that all trans people have personality disorders or that being trans is a mental illness. A little bit of whiplash on this one. Despite the sentence or two claiming what the author is purportedly not doing, the rest of the article seems to indicate otherwise. If you…

Lots of trans people in fact are mentally ill. Given the additional stresses and oppresive social experiences trans people face and are outspoken about , this is entirely unsurprising.

Sure, but this isn't an article about the mental health issues faced by trans people, it's an article about mental illness' role on the internet that uses DID, BPD, and trans people as the primary example of mental illness.
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