A few quick thoughts and the relevant psychoanalysts who have tackled the subject:
Why are the most concerned people so poorly organized?
They aren’t concerned, and if they were they probably wouldn’t be on the computer, they’d be reading bedtime stories to some adorable bald kid with leukemia. This is what Helene Deutsch called the “as if” personality. They act “as if” they give a shit about all sorts of things, often walking all over the people who have been doing years of real work on a subject.
Why are destructive people so well organized?
Narcissism fueled by envy. Like the business (anti)development people that bury a startup, they latch onto other people’s work, ride it into the ground, then happily ride into the sunset looking for their next target. Narcissism is a group activity (See Bion or Yalom) that can be enjoyed by the low performing narcissist. Keep in mind that apparently masochistic people have deep narcissistic fantasies about how some billionaire will fall in love with them (“Fifty Shades Of Grey” and a thousand other movies) so when they see a narcissist, they are willing to whatever the narcissist asks.
Why can’t people ignore trolls?
Some sort of psychological “transference” in which the troll represents a figure from their past. Of course, many people yell “Troll!” whenever they bump into someone that simply knows stuff or speaks to them as an adult. And for many people, their conflict with a “troll” is their attempt to force the troll into what is called a “reciprocal role” that will be the perfect match to their emotions (affect), so they immediately feel the need to control this stranger. There’s all sorts of aphorisms about the hatred between people who have the most in common. I often watch a couple people going at it and think “Hey you two, get a room!” Think about “Fight Club” where the narrator meets Marla - they are leading parallel lives and as soon as they meet she can finish his sentences. Because they are obvious soulmates, he despises her. On the other hand, many people that think they are fighting “trolls” are essentially stalkers who are full of rage because someone poked them with a stick and then ignored them. You may recall the line “I’m not going to be ignored!” from “Fatal Attraction” as the point where shit gets scary. If someone said that to me today, I’d probably say “Hey, why don’t you try ignoring me?”
Why aren’t people more rational?
Murray Bowen, who created modern family counseling, had a scale of 1 to 100, with below 50 being the people who don’t make rational decisions especially under stress or conflict. The folks below 25 live in a cartoon dream world of raw emotion, although they might live [productive lives. Initially he figured half the population would fall above or below 50, but he later estimated only about 15% of the population scored above 50. However, there are a lot of people in the 35-50 range that are pseudo-rational at least until they are under pressure, and often they hide behind a smoke screen of pseudointellectual bullshit.
Why are the “good” people so often full of uncontrolled rage?
Their goodness is a “false self image” that conceals who they really are behind a wall of all the Freudian ego defenses. Anger and hatred towards others is projection of the anger and hatred they have for themselves, which was itself based on their relationship with their parents. The more self hatred they have, the more absurdly syrupy sweet is their self image while the greater their vindictive anger towards others. See Karen Horney.
Why are people always trying to make someone angry or accusing the other person of being “angry?”
I figure it like this - in real life we compete with each other to have power, status, or praise for being altruistic. But when it comes to anger, we can’t be good for being more angry, we can only be good for being less angry. Therefore the other guy has to be more angry to make us look better. The classic way to make someone angry online is to accuse someone of being angry over and over. And they may respond to this especially if they had a borderline or narcissistic parent that did this to them. Molding someone else’s emotions like this is called “projective identification.” It is also considered one of the key behaviors that a psychiatrist looks for as a psychotic trait. It’s also common enough that many people try this online and think of themselves as being quite clever when they do. When someone does it to me I’ll take time to explain that is considered a common symptom of psychotic traits.
Is there really such a thing as a Social Justice Warrior (SJW)?
Strangely enough, this character shows up over and over in the early psychoanalysis literature. On the Bowen scale, these folks would score 10 to 20.
Who are the MRAs?
Low performing narcissists. There are numerous examples of people remarkably like Santa Barbara shooter Elliot Rodger. While some high performing narcissists are capable of accomplishing quite a lot professionally while still being ruthlessly callous towards their families and peers, the low performers just won’t work to get what they want and simply feel entitled to get it without effort. Not getting that fills them with rage.
Why do people aggressively misinterpret others?
This was noted in the early days of psychoanalysis but needs more study. However, this is probably related to the recent research in the measurable changes to brain structure that are caused by a history of trauma and abuse which seem to be linked to significant cognitive impairments. Expect that sort of history and a primitive personality leaning towards the infantile or borderline organization.
What’s the problem with groups?
People in groups are mainly amoral. We always took it for granted that tribes, nationalities, and religions would be immoral. But since the 19th century plenty of people have commented on how any random group of supposedly civilized people sink into “Lord Of The Flies” savagery almost instantly. As soon as someone tries to organize anything, the primitive power struggles start. Many people online have not seen this in real life, so they think there is something special about the online environment that corrupts people. I would say it’s not entirely the anonymity, it’s also the ease of connecting with other disruptive people.
Who are the anti-vaxxers?
(This is just my personal opinion) Elliot Rodger without a gun. Low performing narcissist without the capacity for rational thought. Never cracked a book but are convinced they are smartest guy in the room, that “Don’t tell me what to do!” chip on their shoulder.
