Oddly enough, for a guy who makes part of his living writing columns on the internet, I try not to spend too much time on it when I am off-duty. A few minutes on X is enough to convince anyone that the world is on a high-speed descent to hell in a handbasket. And I don't even bother with BlueSky. Ditto, Reddit. But according to a content producer who goes by the moniker Asmongold, Reddit is turning into a hotbed of violent posts, which could soon come back to bite the denizens who haunt that site on the backside.
Asmongold predicts Internet ID could be coming soon due to the rhetoric on Reddit
— yeet (@Awk20000) March 9, 2025
“You have ppl that are upvoting and glorifying political violence all over this website…it’s completely become a radical terrorist breeding ground…these ppl are speedrunning internet real ID” pic.twitter.com/l24wE8cJ8K
Asmongold may be concerned about the heavy hand of government poking its snot locker into every little thing that ends up on the web. Well, that is what the NSA is for -- that is, when its employees are not waxing rhapsodic over all manner of sexual strangeness. Bad actors in government indeed need little, if any, excuse to bring the heavy hand of regulation down on anyone -- if you didn't know that, how are things with that rock you have been living under? He also rightly notes that Reddit, whatever it used to be, has become a playground for terroristic LARPING, which will not stay in the LARP stage forever.
The overarching question is, what the hell is wrong with these people to begin with? We have seen this played out in real-time with the BLM riots and, for that matter, ANTIFA on any given day. There have been repeated calls for Trump's head on a pike, or for that matter, anyone with whom the rabid masses disagree. We have seen it in the attacks on Tesla dealerships and in Vance and his daughter being harassed by people who support the war in Ukraine. Such people might be encouraged by things like Biden's "Red Speech" or the vitriol of Sanders, Maxine Waters, or Jasmine Crockett. However, there is an equally plausible chance that these internet simians don't even bother with the proclamations of elected leaders. They have been told that anyone different from them is a Nazi, fascist, or whatever word is in vogue on a particular day. Armed with that information, their lizard brains receive enough of a dopamine rush for them to post a death threat, break a window, set a fire, or even choke a girl out for merely being Jewish.
Some of this is because at least one generation of Americans has received what could charitably be described as a third-rate education. Some blame needs to be placed on the inability of many of these people to unplug. In a video game, you can shoot a person with no consequences. If someone is pleasuring themselves to porn, there is no thought given to whether or not the object of their lust is a victim of trafficking or is underage. Life becomes a series of images on a screen. Everything goes away with a single click, with no consequences.
Earlier, Steve wrote about the Salt Lake Tribune doxing Data Republican's husband and his business. Conservatives who live in Utah understand that the Trib has sadly degenerated into a propaganda machine. There were columnists there who were thoughtful and provocative, who gave up their integrity to enjoy the feeling of being on the right side of history and possibly get a day pass to the Afterparty in Aspen. After the Trib published the hit piece, its acolytes assembled on Yelp to leave one-star reviews of the business. It has never occurred to them, or the proponents or purveyors of violence, that they might want to ask whether or not their own party was screwing them over. In concert with B.F. Skinner, these people got a cue, acted out, and got their dopamine pellets. I am unsure if Pavolov was there ringing a bell, but let's not beat the psychology analogies to death.
The sad irony is that such people devalue not only others but also themselves. They become mere automatons and cede their personhood to the Blob, hoping for validation from an entity that has no interest in them whatsoever. They think they are unpersoning conservatives. In fact, they are canceling themselves.
Perhaps John Donne said it best when he wrote:
No man is an island,
Entire of itself;
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less,
As well as if a promontory were:
As well as if a manor of thy friend's
Or of thine own were.
Any man's death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.
The rise of the NPC would be laughable were it not for its potential to become deadly and the fact that such people represent a departure from humanity for acceptance into a fraternity that cares little, if at all, for their existence. And if they care that little for themselves, rest assured that they care nothing for you.
