What’s a thought pattern that’s way too common and damaging to society?
Words can cause harm, but can’t change minds.
Assuming the worst about people.
It’s so common and pervasive that even as I was reading the comments thinking about it, I fell for it while reading one of the comments.
I don’t owe you anything.
Well, that’s the social contract that define’s society. It’s literally damaging to society.
Anyone I’ve heard say this IRL is usually mid act of going out of their way to antagonize everyone around them for absolutely no reason.
on the flipside, ime this can look like drawing necessary boundaries too.
“Most toxic” depends on who’s annoyed this week, but there are a few recurring mental habits that reliably rot discourse without even trying.
My biggest pet peeve is probably moral absolutism, often disguised as clarity. That’s the mindset where everything gets forced into clean categories of pure good vs pure evil, with zero tolerance for the rainbow of nuance.
Next up is identity-as-proof. If someone is in Group X, then they must believe Y, and any counterexample is treated as an anomaly or betrayal. It saves effort because you don’t have to think, just sort people into bins and react accordingly.
Then there’s algorithmic certainty syndrome, which is more modern and a bit more subtle. People get used to feeds that reinforce their priors so efficiently that disagreement starts to feel like statistical noise. So instead of updating beliefs, they just escalate confidence. Nothing says “epistemic humility” like being completely wrong with confidence.
Another one is transactional morality: “If I’m right, I’m allowed to be as harsh as I want.” Which turns every disagreement into a license for cruelty, as if correctness automatically comes with behavioral immunity.
And underneath a lot of it is something simpler and more disconcerting: comfort with not understanding things before judging them. People are so eager to tell others what they are by labeling them and defining them rather than simply talking about themselves (you… vs. I…)
People have warped views about where is worthy of living. In the US people are all about big coastal/hip cities. Like Portland and Austin aren’t coastal but they’re still hip. That wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t trash on non-coastal cities. I don’t know how these people think to build some sort of working class solidarity when you shit on the homes of the majority of peoples who may not want to live in a dense city environment
Similar to that is weird exoticism of people in other countries and their lifestyles. Like I’ve known people that have moved from the US to Ecuador to escape growing fascism and I’m puzzled that they must have done zero research into this. Same with moving from the US to France because they’re anti-imperialist and I’m just puzzled. France has been continuously imperialist for centuries. No pause.
Then the ones that self-style as a refugee when moving to a poorer country. You’re moving from a wealthy country with your savings and many of your belongings, often keeping your job but working remote, often keeping your citizenship. These people have more in common with European colonists in America than someone escaping war in southeast asia 50 years ago or like Sudanese refugees today. These people are also very awkward to talk to these actual refugees and their children especially when they’re living wherever they can in a country to make it rather than like Seattle
All that really to say about how little interest people want to be a part of uplifting their home communities. Their countries communities. I don’t care how little you care for Oklahoma because of politics, you should want people to thrive there. Especially if you fancy yourself some social progressive that cares about native Americans
And this warped view ends up having people spend so much money on things that aren’t needed to make them happy. Maybe you see way funnier stuff at improv shows in New York City. That doesn’t mean you can’t have a good time at one in Omaha Nebraska. You can help grow that. Too many people that just want to move to a city and consume and get pissed off that the cities with built out amenities are expensive. So then move to a cheap country and continue to contribute nothing. Just consume. So move to Ecuador to be rich and contribute nothing culturally nor politically to prevent some fascistic rise they “fled” growing in the US or France or UK, etc
I view it like a supercharged American moderate that MLK Jr spoke about that people love to cite. The American moderate shares that video to claim they’re not a moderate. People in wealthy countries find any reason to not have to be a part of change and hope they can move to their ideal community that will entertain them. And in the case of moving to a poorer country, their ideal home wasn’t actually leftism and setting up their communities to thrive in the future - it was being rich. It’s a lot worse today I believe because of social media. A lot of people consume enough self help books and socializing tips YouTube along with lifestyle influencers and now we have an impotent leftist movement. Approach to lifestyle like a wealthy conservative but wrap it in messaging of wellness, socialism, whatever
That’s why I don’t get why so many people want to just simply upset their lives and lifestyles to leave America. The spirit of America, regardless of politics, is being able to make change when it is needed the most. You’re spitting on that spirit by default, by choosing to run from it. That’s what Freedom is about. America has multiple gears in of itself, than it would if you moved to a country that is either one speed or two speed. Moved to a country that’s imperialist? Too bad, that is that country’s entire function, no matter where you go in it.
Unlike America, it is a matter of “fuck this state, I’m going to this one over here” where laws actually are different state to state and only the federal national laws remain consistent.
Choosing to flee, just enables even more, the problems that have blanketed the country.
The spirit of America, regardless of politics, is being able to make change when it is needed the most.
The Apaches and Comanches know this very well. Include blacks in the equation now.
Where do you want to go with that? That can be said about the treatment of every non-white European people’s by white Europeans around the world. Native Americans are still very present in the US just ignored. People in the US and Europe also seem to pay no care for refugees from wars brought on by their countries imperialist/colonial wars. Nor do they seem to recognize native hispanics as native Americans nor people in the Middle East as people indigenous to those lands. American, European, Australian, etc tourists don’t seem to recognize people other than natives on reservations in the US and Canada as indigenous to any lands. These can be said to discourage every civil rights activist in the past to present. Can be said to anyone working for the ACLU today. Those in medical research in NATO countries today. People today have to work towards something.
The spirit of America and European countries have been for the last ~600 years, marked by slavery, genocide, colonialism, imperialism. Going forward it will be something. It’s far from as bad as it once was but it’s trending back towards overt imperialism again and internal opposition has to be better than they were in the past because in the past they were terrible at it.
People that leave the US, France, UK, Netherlands, Spain, Canada, Australia, etc countries to poorer countries to take advantage of their relative wealth to live out life as a wealthy conservative are not contributing to society in their home country nor the country they’re trying live a life of tourism in. And it is no surprise that conservatives succeed so much in politics when lean lefts are so quick to give up and recluse themselves from politics of not just where they were born but every country in the world so they can just enjoy themselves. Live life. Focus on their own spirituality. On their own art. Mental health. There’s no balance. It’s all just consumerism and hedonism dressed up for the art district. Etc
I’d say nihilism and apathy. Of course life has no objective meaning, it has the meaning we assign to it. I remember someone telling me “humans are selfish, we can’t change things for the better” or something to that effect. It really pissed me off. With that attitude, you sure as shit can’t. If we all came together, we absolutely could force positive change.
The fact that life has no inherent meaning is my primary motivator to give it meaning. No one decides what I mean except me, and I say I mean something.
anthropomorphising pets. IMO it’s a mental condition.
Climate change ignorance on the other hand is existential to civilisations existence and is being ignored, so humans are able to jump through all sorts of mental hoops
That discomfort, or your feelings in general, are a reliable indicator of morality or good/badness
Its the root of a lot of chauvinism, but also just a common thinking trap you see across many different subcultures and spaces
Was going to say Spectrum B/C disorders, C/PTSD, which comes from trauma, toxic environments, and sometimes some different brain workings. The most tragic part is, these conditions are extremely treatable, a couple are reversible, with good, ongoing talk therapy and shadow work, which is so very inaccessible to those who want them and often easily accessible to those who don’t.
Way too many young people (in the west, I’m not sure about elsewhere) are extremely pessimistic about the future. They aren’t necessarily wrong they also feel like they don’t have any control. It definitely opens a window for radicalisation, but it’s just sad to see.
In America being inconvenient by something is the greatest sin. It’s horseshit.
That all men are evil, I admit I’m a sinner of this. My terrible experiences make me think men are evil but I know that’s wrong and toxic I’m working on it. I must admit tho that these experiences constantly happening are making it too difficult 🙃
You just haven’t gone far enough; all women are evil too.
Trauma responses are hard. I think it’s great you’re actively working on it and are conscious of your own biases, that’s huge. Good luck!
I read something the other day that sorta explains this. I felt the same way you do. But what I read was that women know that all men aren’t evil. But they aren’t sure which one’s are. It just clicked in my head and helped me understand the mentality.
That’s the same reason people don’t trust cops. Some cops are good but you can’t always be sure which ones are bad and so interacting with any of them is risky
You are not wrong.
Transphobia, racism, misogyny…
Woke mind virus.
Without any elaboration, this is just a regressive buzzphrase and people will inevitably interpret it as such.
Nature abhors a vacuum, and at best, you will be asked to elaborate (which you could have done to begin with).
I am trying my best to think you had good but misguided intentions in commenting this, but I’m not sure what these are.
Care to explain what you mean by that?
Don’t feed the troll…
Nah, I guess it’s the right thing to try to engage in a productive discussion. Might sound stupid but lemmy is far smaller than traditional social media. It’s like a local tavern of social medias, and there’s isn’t an endless supply of trolls like there’s on other social medias. Besides having conversation with someone of opposing ideas is always welcomed.
Sure.
Clearly I struck a nerve with everyone, which I find hilarious.
I’m not a MAGAT. I said that because it’s legitimate and true to some degree whether I agree with the words woke mind virus or not it was a means to explain the phenomenon.
Everyone has some sort of idea, intuition, theory, about literally everything now days in some crazy fashion, 5g world domination, implants in blood draws, wild things you see. The government, food, tech, tv shows. What I was speaking on loosely and fast just as a simple comment to OP was that there literally seems like a woke mind virus now days because its ingrained in everyone.
I only used woke mind virus because that’s what most people see on the news and hear about, so they understand loosely the context I speak about. Was more to get my point across, be active in this sub, and be relatable to OP. Again. Not a MAGAT so everyone commenting and being offended, while your entitled to feel how you feel my post was simply taken far out of context.
Edit: I think this post helps prove my point or atleast reaffirm what I was meaning. Everyone below was quick to lash out, downvote, with any sort of understanding or discussion. That in and of itself is part of the issue. People being so ingrained in their feelings and view that it inhibits productive discussion and behaviour.
Well I’m not one to laugh when I go into a room full of people and upset everyone. But you do you I guess.
To my understanding “woke mind virus” is far different than the things you described. What you described are common misinformation given to people in lower economic backgrounds to sow discourse among the working class . To me the “woke mind virus” is more of an understanding of how systemic racism and sexism in many laws have kept many people intentionally in poverty.
In short, you’re like, using the words wrong around here bruv.
I suppose I was a bit pedantic about it, what I really mean is that people take things far too personal and it’s a bit ridiculous to me. Perhaps I should not have said it was hilarious it was more of an expression of absurdity to me.
English is not my language. I do my best. I contribute, I write in english to do better learning. I still think if you look at some of the replies on Lemmy an to my comment above. People don’t have open minds. Quick to ridicule and cast out. Most people seem to have the view of theirs and only theirs. Everyone opposing is bad. That is not good for anyone and the world.
Yeah there seems to be a lot of closed mindedness everywhere. And I think people were always quick to ridicule and cast out. At least that’s what my dad’s music says at least. 😅
I guess we’ve had different experiences. I don’t think most people I meet feel like it’s their way only. Except for a few notable exceptions 🇺🇸. I do think that a lot of people feel and think the opposing “side” is bad.
But at the same time I don’t really blame people for being that way. The stakes are seem to be getting higher.
One example that comes to mind is in my country. The highest level of government overturned a law that protected the bodily autonomy of women a few years ago. In my country if you have a uterus in some places, the local governments can imprison, and even put you to death if your pregnancy goes a way the government doesn’t like. I have not heard of anyone being executed yet though. Only imprisoned.
Essentially one half of our species trying to subjugate the other half. Oh and by the way, it’s been that for a really long time. Down with the Patriarchy. ♀️
Or just the other day; A person in one of the most powerful positions of our species threatened to wipe out an entire civilization.
I agree that almost all of the conflict and suffering our species places on ourselves is a waste of time, hampering us, and is bad. But for some people it is a fight for survival. And I suspect those people most likely won’t be open-minded with “only a little genocide!”.
I spent way too much time writing this so I probably won’t respond. I’m going to play some Foxhole. Good luck in the trials ahead for our species in the coming years, stranger. Don’t forget Trans Rights Are Human Rights. 🏳️⚧️
you seem to be describing conspiracy theorists, or fantastical thinkers. “wokeism” is just a derogatory way fascists refer to queer people or leftists as if they were a conspiracy.
how did you even end up here? shouldn’t you be on like X or something?
Is OC not answering the question? Belief in a “woke mind virus” is a popular toxic mentality nowadays.
Correct. This is what I was stating but Lemmy took it out of context. Oh well.
The way it was worded contributed to that.
Believing that poverty is a moral failure. Though that’s been an issue for millenia.
I guess it is more a thing of Western countries. Max Weber suggested that the Protestant Reformation, led to the belief that economic success was a sign of divine favor, legitimizing wealth inequality. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protestant_Ethic_and_the_Spirit_of_Capitalism
In the case of the Soviet Union, Marxist-Leninist doctrine treated poverty as a product of class exploitation under capitalism rather than personal failure. Official discourse emphasized that unemployment, homelessness, and destitution were systemic features of bourgeois economies. Within Soviet society, this translated into a strong normative expectation that the state bore responsibility for guaranteeing employment, housing, and basic welfare. While in practice shortages and inequalities persisted, the cultural script did not legitimize blaming the poor; instead, marginalization was often interpreted as a failure of planning, bureaucracy, or remnants of pre-socialist class structures.
A comparable ideological orientation can be found in the People’s Republic of China, particularly during the Maoist period. Under Mao Zedong, poverty was framed as the legacy of feudalism and imperialism. Campaigns such as land reform and collectivization were justified precisely on the premise that peasants were victims of structural oppression rather than agents of their own deprivation. Even in the post-1978 reform era, although market mechanisms reintroduced inequality, official rhetoric continues to stress “poverty alleviation” as a state-led responsibility, culminating in large-scale programs aimed at eradicating extreme poverty without moralizing the poor as individually culpable.
That with hard work, grit, and determination you can become wealthy in the USA too.
