What do you believe to be the reason behind the constant attempts by users to ridicule and discredit opinions by claiming their association with opposing websites?
What is it that even lead individuals into creating conflicts with other websites that began this entire ordeal in the first place?
Can we (as internet users) ever hope to reach a point where such inane drivel is no longer present amongst us?
brainlet plays with polysyllables
>>2
Thank you for your meaningful contribution.
Now, now. Play nice children.
As a phenomenon, that dates back to the early days of the internet and presumably is carried over as psychological baggage from meatspace interpersonal conflicts. There are two different types, the paranoid type, where the accusation is genuine and the accuser is convinced of the opposition even without proof; and the more common I believe trollish strawman variety where the accuser doesn't actually believe what they are saying, it is merely to elicit a certain response or harden their argument.
It used to be common, but is now almost a given in any online discussion. There is so little value ascribed to individual opinions now they are just taken as throwaway and rather than treat them as individuals they are consigned to a bin of collective groupthink and discarded. Johnny doesn't really believe what he's saying about Drumpf, he's just an alt-right troll from 4chan and should be ignored. Jenny is an SJW Redditor her statements are baseless. The point is that it isn't exclusive to the internet, we see the same behavior everywhere because people as a whole are defensive and are becoming moreso.
In other words: Everyone's a shit but me.
>>1,2
I think this has been around forever, and the reason it seems more prevalent on the internet is that generally people don't have as much of a filter on here.
in-groupers vs. out-groupers
very common and not specific to any one particular community
It's just hooliganism/tribalism. It is intrinsic to human nature and not necessarily bad. When an outside influence appears you want your culture to persevere, so you accuse the other of 'other' unless he amolds himself to your culture.
Ah, or do you mean in 'serious' discussions? then I'd say it's more of a thought-terminating cliche or somesuch.