Oh, yeah, I don't necessarily think that every toxic site was specifically designed to be toxic, most were just designed in a way that people are drawn to. But when enough people flock to a place, it becomes toxic eventually. That just happens to coincide with the fact that when someone becomes wealthy from their website taking off, they often become corrupted by the attention and become the big figureheads we hate. They were probably assholes before, but now they're rich entitled assholes, which is much worse.

In the end the biggest issue with the internet is that too many people becoming easily connected to one another must also include toxic people easily connecting with one another, spreading the toxicity until it's inescapable in the community. I think we could slowly overcome the issues associated with connectivity on our own in time, and we were for a while, but the internet opened the floodgates and gave us too much connection before we were able to handle it.

My own mom went from a staunch democrat to believing Trump was literally the second coming of Jesus Christ sent to deal with actual honest-to-goodness Lizard People running the government, all because some small community of 100-odd people she found on the internet said so, and that many people can't be wrong.

[–] hansolo@lemmy.today 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

OOOhh - which community? Not going after your mom, I just love a good conspiracy community. Most forums seem pretty insular, so it's always nice to get a lead on a new one.

[–] Signtist@bookwyr.me 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The one she talked about all the time was called the Minnesota Assembly. I think it's an offshoot of the whole sovereign citizen thing. I believe they used a telegram group chat as their main way of communicating. She died a little over a year ago, after they convinced her to treat her breast cancer with the herbal teas they sold instead of going to a doctor, so I'm not sure what's going on with the group anymore.

[–] hansolo@lemmy.today 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Oh shit, sorry man. My parents are wrapped up in the same kind of stuff, like drinking bleach as a cure for everything. My apologies to bring that up in that way.

[–] Signtist@bookwyr.me 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

No worries, I hope your parents manage to get themselves out eventually. If they're anything like my mom, no amount of outside pleading will change their mind.

[–] hansolo@lemmy.today 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I appreciate it. In the last year or two they've gone downhill considerably. Isolating themselves during COVID seems to have really done a number on their mental health.

[–] Signtist@bookwyr.me 1 points 3 days ago

Sorry to hear that. The isolation definitely exacerbated my mom's conspiracist ideation as well.