If people enjoy demon threads, it may not be strictly true that the ‘Someone is wrong on the internet’ feeling (noticeably) feels bad.
When reading the OP, I thought, “I recognise that feeling, but my main (noticed) ‘someone is wrong on the internet’-response is a positive, inspired motivational one.”
Perhaps these feelings do get jumbled, and distinguishing how much is ‘inspired’ vs ‘this is wrong’ is part of the skill of avoiding demon threads.
I still sense that there’s two different feelings here:
Type 1. Clearly negative – “This can’t stand” or “That person needs to be corrected” or “If other people see that person’s post, they will become wrong too – I need to save them.”
Type 2. Positive(?) –”There’s some interesting ideas to be corrected” or “Wow, this person thinks really differently from me, how did that happen?”
The second type might have shock and incredulity, but the core feels like surprised curiosity.
The first type feels more uncomfortable, as if tribal honour has been breached.
Presumably the exact feelings vary a lot from person to person.
I think the potential bad outcome of the positive version is something like “ah, I can explain this!”, coupled with a misunderstanding of what the other person is about. (i.e. you think you’re making a simple correction, but you’re actually telling them that some deep seated part of their identity is wrong)
If people enjoy demon threads, it may not be strictly true that the ‘Someone is wrong on the internet’ feeling (noticeably) feels bad.
When reading the OP, I thought, “I recognise that feeling, but my main (noticed) ‘someone is wrong on the internet’-response is a positive, inspired motivational one.”
Perhaps these feelings do get jumbled, and distinguishing how much is ‘inspired’ vs ‘this is wrong’ is part of the skill of avoiding demon threads.
I still sense that there’s two different feelings here:
Type 1. Clearly negative – “This can’t stand” or “That person needs to be corrected” or “If other people see that person’s post, they will become wrong too – I need to save them.”
Type 2. Positive(?) –”There’s some interesting ideas to be corrected” or “Wow, this person thinks really differently from me, how did that happen?”
The second type might have shock and incredulity, but the core feels like surprised curiosity.
The first type feels more uncomfortable, as if tribal honour has been breached.
Presumably the exact feelings vary a lot from person to person.
I think the potential bad outcome of the positive version is something like “ah, I can explain this!”, coupled with a misunderstanding of what the other person is about. (i.e. you think you’re making a simple correction, but you’re actually telling them that some deep seated part of their identity is wrong)