Shiny Happy People

Discourse among Americans with differing views has improved dramatically thanks to the internet. I know, I know. In an age where it’s increasingly clear that the internet’s most notable traits are greasing the wheels of cognitive bias and amplifying hate speech, that’s an unlikely lede. But I wanted to start off the new year with a positive. To do so, I had to visit a small corner of the internet where users are taking the dis out of civil discourse. Oddly, it’s on Reddit. “What might be more startling than the forum’s general tone of calm, reasonable disagreement is the fact that so many of its contributors seem to change their minds, even on flash-point subjects such as same-sex marriage, abortion, and gun control. (There are also lighthearted posts: A recent debate took on the intractable question of whether a hot dog counts as a sandwich.)” It’s hard to believe even that even a conversation about sandwiches could be lighthearted. Half the people I know are opposed to bread…

+ Before you allow yourself to get too angry at that troll on social media, you should know there’s a good chance that they’re fake. In fact, as Max Read explains in NY Mag, there’s a good chance anything you encounter on the internet is fake, including the metrics, the people, the content, and the businesses.