Why discussions generate into personal affronts...

One of the funniest happened on "Soundstage" 22 years ago. It was between Myles Astor and another insider.

It got to the point where Myles said:

"I can bench 400 lbs,......!"
To this day, I regret not printing the discussion. 

It seems that fascinations and speculations and theories and observations drive people nuts.  Since observing and theorizing and speculating and being fascinated about things is the way I live, usually when I launch a thread it turns bad in a jiffy.

I have a website with almost seven hundred observations and speculations.  I ain't no amateur here.


Hey, look:  The OP was curious about the behavior and even this thread had some nastiness in it.

And it's funny that this should come up anyway.  My first contemplation today before coming here was of three people I know that are real belligerent.  I'll say something that is patently obvious, like my washing machine is broken, and they'll pick a fight about it.  They having absolutely no knowledge of my washing machine whatsoever.  They are obviously mentally ill but somehow seem to function in society.

Here's another observation:  The less a person knows, the more vehement he is.  And I'm sure that that observation is going to ignite some vehement responses.  But being information-proof is a self-reinforcing condition.

Shouldn't that be "people degenerate into nastiness in discussions..."?Just kidding, of course.I believe it happens because we live in a world that is increasingly becoming black or white, right or wrong.The reality is that the world is mostly shades of grey.

A big factor is the 'keyboard warrior' mentality.  People are SO brave when there aren't any true consequences to be paid.  This very well may be the primary reason for all the negativity.