Excellent thread!
People have worldviews and strong opinions,and when these are contradicted or threatened people react viscerally. The degree of reaction depends on the emotional investment and the mentality of the poster.
The main fault I see is that when contradicted some get so rattled that all they can do is become abusive and repeat one sided evidence,ergo post hoc evidence.
The central committee here then deletes posts and threatens members with bans. Not quite a debate,but a political broadcast smacking of authoritarianism.
I see many members in that thread virtue signalling and not interested in the human side of conflicts,just broadcasting their political agenda.
Remember for many with little political influence in their everyday life,this is a real venting outlet. A channel for their resentiment. A flag waving for socialists and tinpots. A venue and haven for the disgruntled.
And thus are the vast majority of Internet forums.
Good news is in real life most of these clowns wouldn't say boo to a goose.

People love to preach and be sanctimonious.
Makes them feel better,temporarily.
And for some this procrastinates the actual real work they should be doing on themselves.
For others,they just get enjoy being karens. That is their life.

My one contribution to that thread was asking whether any of the participants had ever visited both Israeli and Palestinian territories. Predictably, there did not seem to be anyone who had.

I don't think it is as much a addiction to conflict that explains the vitriolic nature of such threads, but rather the unconcious realization that a complicated, not yet fully understood issue is being oversimplified. That uncertainty is then translated into loud barking and chestpuffing.

"I still don't care - but I want to ... attack - is that wrong..?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeGECVrclgM

@Cuthbert A lot of truth in that video!

I wonder if his friends, the ones involved in the conflict, are infuriated by his impartiality. — Joshs

He wasn't impartial, he definitely had a perspective. He was just less hysterical than the rest of us.

it appears in that case the "central committee" was fueling the conflict. — skyblack

For the same reason we like thrill rides and horror movies, so we can learn how to cope better with the demons and threats that we already know are out there’s, are always in the back of our mind and infiltrate our dreams nightly. — Joshs

Hmm....

I only took a quick look at couple of pages so have not seen this impartiality. — skyblack

The user mentioned was not impartial, just mostly not hysterical. He lost it a time or two, just not routinely.

Good news is in real life most of these clowns wouldn't say boo to a goose. — Trinidad

It's true. I've never booed a goose. Not once. Definitely too scary. :-)

People love to preach and be sanctimonious.
Makes them feel better,temporarily. — Trinidad

Yes, and yes. But why? Why does engaging in pointless conflict make us feel better?

My one contribution to that thread was asking whether any of the participants had ever visited both Israeli and Palestinian territories. Predictably, there did not seem to be anyone who had. — Tzeentch

One member may have, Israel at least. Doubt it for the rest of us. Not me.

I've never been outside of the United States, because those other countries don't really exist, but are just fake news cooked up by the cable news outlets. As example, the BBC is run out of somebody's garage in a trailer park at an undisclosed location in rural Alabama.

@Foghorn Because many people love to try to one up other people. It's social anxiety being medicated by trying to assert your superiority with high falutin words. Showing of one's education. A display of peacock feathers. The fact the debate doesn't achieve a solution is irrelevant. These people just want to vent and belittle others to feel better about their insecurity.

A display of peacock feathers. The fact the debate doesn't achieve a solution is irrelevant. These people just want to vent and belittle others to feel better about their insecurity. — Trinidad

This sounds pretty insightful and accurate to me. And I just want to add here that my peacock feathers are FAR SUPERIOR to everyone else in the aforementioned thread!



I am big, and they are small!!

Or, um, I am small pretending to be big, to hide my smallness from myself.

Definitely one of those.

@Foghorn That is rationality in a nutshell! A peacock trying to hide the fact it's an ugly bird,unable to rival a beautiful creature like a bear!

One idea which I think is relevant is the idea of the inflated ego. People may develop grandiosity in the face of feeling insignificant. We all like to feel of value, and have such different experiences. Human identity may involve validation from others, even popularity. Ideas of success and failure are important and how we view ourselves, especially in the competition within social life.

@Jack Cummins This applies to a whole lot of people.
Bang on the money!

What I do believe is that superiority and inferiority are poles, and that a sense of power can easily collapse into the opposite. Most people can probably navigate the extremes, but it can be a fine line for some people at times.

@Jack Cummins I don't feel they are poles.
I think superiority or striving for such is a sign of inferiority.
Inferiority expresses itself as hubris and superiority.
Real Confidence. That's a totally different thing.
I don't think we should look at phenomenon as being on continiums or poles. Sometimes we have to say,it is what it is.

Well said Jack. Yea, we all have a story about ourselves that we're always working on. This story business seems to be the source of a huge amount of trouble. We might be able to get away with stealing a guy's money and girlfriend, but if we mess with his story, watch out.

I probably think of continuums of superiority and inferiority in relation to how they manifest in bipolar mood disorder. But, in some ways, I do think that these opposites are apparent in some degree in most people. I am probably more inclined to lean to the point of the deflated or wounded ego. I tend to interpret setbacks as a sign of my own failure, and have to work on not thinking in that way. It seems that people have varying degrees of ego strength.

But, I do think that conflict with others is often the outer manifestation of issues with the self, but of course, it probably has a biological basis as well. However, some people fuel anger and aggression outwards, and some beat themselves up instead. I would imagine that addictions, such as alcohol and drug dependency, and self harm can sometimes be a result of conflict turned towards self destruction.

@Jack Cummins I think we have to get away from the "we manifest every evil from our shadow side" thinking.
A lot of evil is from evil people. I don't believe we all have an evil side. Nor do i believe if people's issues were resolved we would get no conflict.
This myth of therapy or education or awareness being the key to solving conflict ignores the reality of what human motivations and personalities really are.

The central committee here — Trinidad

I like that. Could everyone here please refer to the mod team as "the central committee" from now on. :up:

Dare I say it, I am a big fan of Jung, and once wrote a thesis on Jung's idea of the shadow. I also studied art psychotherapy, so I am inclined to look at life on a psychological level. It is true that some people appear to be 'evil' and the most obvious examples are historical examples, such as Hitler and Saddam Hussein. But, I do believe that we all have potential for good and evil and it is too easy to point to the evil in certain individuals, such as criminals, especially murderers.

@Jack Cummins Well there we fundamentally disagree.
Yes good people can make hurtful mistakes and even be a bit nasty at times. But evil is a whole different category.
I've met evil,I know the difference.

So, how would you say describe the 'evil' in the people you came across, and the whole category of this? Do you think that it is a distinct category, completely different from the 'normal' population?

@Jack Cummins These people's intrinsic personality is one that wants to control others. They enjoy deceiving,cheating,robbing and making people suffer if needed. They are willing to murder if needed. They only care about self image,control and not getting caught. It is a completely different category to the vast majority. Think unrepentant military general or top politician.

I have known people who have committed crimes and been to prison, but most of the ones I have known have also had a positive, caring side as well. But, I guess that I have managed to steer away from the real hardcore of people who simply don't care about others at all. Saying that, I do come across some people who are fairly controlling, but that is often based on their own beliefs that they know more than others. But, really, I prefer to keep my independence from others views, and I am a bit selective in who I get to know when I am out and about because I used to get to know so many people with a lot of problems, and it gave me a lot of unnecessary conflict.

@Jack Cummins It's good to be selective about those you socialise or associate with for the reasons you gave.
Those people you met who commited crimes,are we talking murder or other offenses?

I got to know a few people socially and discovered at some point that they had a criminal past. I wouldn't wish to expand on this on an online forum because it is public. I also have some experience of working in forensic psychiatry and I found it an interesting challenge, but extremely difficult at times. But, in the context of forensic psychiatry, I am interested in therapeutic interventions for people with antisocial personality disorder. I don't think that I wish to go further with working in forensic psychiatry because the management of aggression and violence is extremely difficult, and I am not a large person. But, I would like to work in the field of addiction because I am certainly interested in the exploration of psychological conflict.