I feel like a big problem that communities, both physical and online, are currently struggling with is a variation on the “Nazi bar” problem.
Michael B. Tager wrote the following thread on social media back in 2020:
I was at a shitty crustpunk bar once getting an after-work beer. One of those shitholes where the bartenders clearly hate you. So the bartender and I were ignoring one another when someone sits next to me and he immediately says, “no. get out.”
One of my strongly-held opinions, and one that helps understand a lot about both politics and real life, is that most people are conservative.
This is distinct from as being a conservative in the way that those who want to deport undocumented immigrants or pay as little taxes as possible or allow prayer in schools are, but rather simply that (aside from whichever issues happen to specifically matter to that specific person) most people want things to generally stay the same or slightly improve, and not be bothered otherwise.
Lots of people these days are talking about how generative AI technology is leading workers to lose skills, bosses to trust chatbots more than their employees, folks at risk to make absurd decisions, etc.
As these models are very capable of providing wrong, yet correct-seeming, answers, this causes people to accept low-quality results and pass them through, as if there’s nothing wrong with them, especially when contrasted with asking questions from other people, who are much more likely to refuse or question one’s request or take way more time to accomplish it properly.
It’s become increasingly clear that in a lot of countries, the right has pretty much abandoned any ambition of still believing in “fairness” or “equality under the law” – perfectly willing to openly enrich themselves and their friends using government powers or declare entire groups of people as lower-class. There is a popular quote by musician Frank Wilhoit that goes:
Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit:
There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.