Cyril Wheaton I almost became a Redditor. While I never caught on to the idiosyncratic internet jargon they so lovingly use, I did nearly fall prey to something far more dangerous: compliance.
I used to view Reddit as political propaganda, but in retrospect it’s better classified as thinking propaganda. Excess exposure to anything is harmful and Reddit, an online forum/discussion board, is no exception. I first joined the site to look at Avatar the Last Airbender content and other hobbyist topics the site is known for housing. Soon I became curious to explore the rest of the site and navigated to the main page, home to the largest subreddits and Reddit’s rotten underbelly I was yet to become aware of.
Because I was stupid (stupider than I believed myself to be), I was susceptible to the mental conditioning that prowled this area. Reddit is akin to selective eating. Exclusively consuming a small variety of foods at a young age will train your tastebuds to only accept that input. Prolonging this habit can reorient your sense of taste until those few flavors are all your mouth can perceive.
Discussion boards should be platforms in which people can share their differing opinions, search for common ground, and debate. Reddit’s front page, however, has long watered away their taste for reasoned discourse and they almost stole mine as well. Reprogramming infiltrated the deepest levels of my consciousness by training me to accept the smallest of irregularities.
In the beginning, I found many sound ideas on the website, but every now and then, an opinion would look just the slightest bit harsh, or a comment a bit too flippant. I would accept it. Isn’t it good to broaden my worldview? So many opinions were valid, surely a more extreme one might be as well? Most of the opinion looked right, there’s no need to look more closely. Once the first irregularity slipped past, larger ones began to seep through. My inner thoughts became more cynical. “Feel good” posts blinded me to their exploitative nature. Intrusive videos of public disturbances and physical assault provoked little reaction. I passed judgment on social issues for which I knew little, leading me to be wrong often. The impulse to demonize an opposing side grew stronger. It was the most tiring and off-balanced October I had ever rolled through. Thankfully with the power of God I got my channels retuned and became aware of the strange sense of exhaustion I bore while browsing through the main feed. Why did ideas reappear so frequently? Why was everyone so vicious? Why did some subreddits seem designed to stir up outrage from users? While I thought I was making strides to broaden my worldview, I failed to make a distinction between exposure and internalization.
For that October, I was Reddit, or at least everything it stood for. Cynical, arrogant, ignorant, idle, and uncouth. All as a result of my compliance. In today’s post I’ll be covering the Redditor’s mindset, theories for why they act so, and the overall threats of Reddit’s thought current.
Redditors primarily exercise their complacence through their analysis of issues. But when I say analysis, I mean absolutely no analysis at all. Situations are entirely black and white. Instead of trying to account for the contradictions/irrationalities in human nature and social/historical context, they simply pound their gavels and move on. The margin for nuance is scant. Why?
There’s a cycle for every indoctrinate that follows this general route: Because an active user wants to establish significance on a platform, he’ll try to find common ground with other users. The sheer magnitude and uniformity of established opinions, knee-jerk decisions, and comments that garner points put subconscious pressure on him to adopt them, regardless of quality. If he continues to comply with the currents, more behaviors will stick, edging out the user’s own reason. He will parrot, mimic, and be showered with praise that reinforces his self-worth and impulse to conform. Whatever trend arises is what he’ll adopt to feel validated until eventually, he stops shopping for himself and now waits for orders on what opinions to buy into. The user has lost his sense of self and become indoctrinated. He is trained to condemn, not deliberate. Our identities are emphasized through our autonomy. With no independence, we’re nothing.
Much of my proposed cycle is drawn from my singular experience, but as an average individual, others have likely treaded a similar path. The majority of Redditors are convinced that they are free thinkers. This is false. Their meal for thought is pulled from a pre-sealed package, with every ingredient tainted the same way. A free thinker cooks the meal himself with fresh ingredients selected from many places. They may consume the same dish, but their level of involvement makes the difference in flavor that is night and day.
On Reddit, the threats of passive conformity are on full display as they engage in their fast-food deliberation processes. They can’t be bothered to piece together the truth for themselves, they only consume what is placed in front of them. Below are two examples of Reddit’s uniformity in topics despite existing evidence contrary to their beliefs.
Elon Musk: During 2018 (and possibly even earlier), Reddit could not stop licking Musk’s boots, gushing and cheering amorously for the tech billionaire. In the present day, the tide has turned on him on account of numerous lawsuits mounting against Tesla and stupid remarks he made on Twitter. But Musk being bad news was no new news. As early as 2013 there have been concerns of Tesla engaging in fraudulent accounting practices. In 2018 there were two issues of Tesla making false statements and being investigated by the government. Apparently Reddit didn’t get the memo. They were too busy making laudatory memes about him. It took years of scandals against Musk reaching Reddit’s front page until Redditors began to backpedal.
Heard-Depp: Around April there was a domestic abuse drama/lawsuit going on between two celebrities that received a nauseating amount of publicity. While I take no issue with the actual verdict, the social coverage surrounding the affair was despicable. The case was no simple decision and combined with Depp’s questionable public past, Heard’s behavior, and planned defamation attempts that were scrapped by both legal teams, the event called the characters of both into question. Not that this mattered to Reddit (and many other media platforms) who brushed aside the muddle and rewrote the court case into a cheap soap opera, with Depp framed as a tragic paragon of virtue, and Heard painted as hellspawn.
Critics (both on and outside of the platform) that highlight Reddit’s dangers frequently invoke the term “addiction to justice.” In short, because so much time is spent online, users feel the need to compensate for their lack of physical interaction by their immediate and unconditional verdicts. I think there is a general consensus that people gain some satisfaction from making a decision. By dispensing online justice upon contentious subjects, this verdict gives them a sense of accomplishment. Definitive condemnations are more satisfactory, because they create the illusion of concrete fact and invulnerability. The case is closed and they were the ones who decided the outcome. Deliberating the nuances of something would simply be too involved as they require frequent doses of satisfaction to justify their presence.
Reddit’s sweeping irreverence for everything likely contributes to the impulse for concurrence. By lacking the ability to discuss different topics with varying levels of care, their reasoning process is unrefined and usually inappropriate. They treat small family spats the same way they treat hate crimes. A photo of a border patrol officer held at gunpoint by the mafia prompts Office jokes. Overwhelming desensitization can make it harder for one to disagree, and easier to join in.
Reddit played a central role in the development of my love for introspection. After the echo-chambers nearly deafened me, I understood better why I needed to keep a mirror in front of me at all times.
Today Reddit functions as both entertainment and a thinking exercise. Posts with high like counts are littered with micro-errors and weaknesses. Instead of swallowing them whole, they need to be disassembled and dissected. I have to put reason before emotions. Lines need to be drawn, not erased. Reddit takes away independence, I’ll use Reddit to build mine up.
