Becker Offline
Kathy Douds
There are many people who are just argumentative by nature and the Internet scratches that itch whenever they desire. So they read articles and posts just looking for points to personally argue for or against. I find it helpful when I read argumentative comments in an article or social media post to just assume the person was out looking for an argument that day.
The wisdom that a kind word can turn down the heat of a conversation quickly is timeless and helpful both online and offline. When reading articles that provoke a strong reaction, responding calmly and thoughtfully can diffuse tension and foster understanding. Always start with something kind to say.
Physical possessions are a burden. They take dollars to buy and time to maintain. They take up physical space in our homes and mental space in our minds. Every physical item around us competes for our attention and adds stress to our lives.
Some articles you read feel like they were written directly to you with lots of helpful, specific application points. Others will sound like they are speaking to a completely different person in a completely different phase of life. But almost every article will contain something we can learn.
If a writer has been publishing books or online articles for years, each piece of their work is part of a broader narrative. Understanding the context within which they write can provide clarity to their articles.
Long-time readers of a writer may understand that context. But if you are reading someone new, and want to make an assumption about them, it might be wise to dig deeper into their fuller worldview to understand the broader context within which they write.
Encountering perspectives that differ from our own can be uncomfortable, but they also offer valuable opportunities for growth. Instead of immediately dismissing opposing views, consider what you can learn from them.
The United States is facing an ongoing threat of political violence due to widespread anti-government sentiment that has proliferated across social media platforms. Most saliently, these violent sentiments manifested in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol during the certification of the 2020 general election. This research extends prior work on the online mobilisation to offline violence by analysing the text of online discussions leading up to the January 6 attack. We focus this examination on two central questions. First, what are the key themes and topics discussed within and across two social media platforms? Second, how did these themes and topics change over time? Focusing on two far-right anti-government online communities, we explore how support for political violence, disinformation, and electoral outcomes emerge and change over time. Our findings provide insight into possible strategies to counteract misinformation and the temporal trajectory of escalating violent sentiment within and across online communities. Further, this study highlights the importance of collecting data prospectively and demonstrates the value of automated content analysis and text data in understanding anti-government extremist sentiments.
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