Kenzie posted:

It does seem sometimes that without heavy moderation, most internet comment sections regress to ignorance, bigotry and racism as a default state. It's like I'm looking at the default state of humanity before some authority intervenes and orders people to behave otherwise.

The only reason Something Awful is a left wing echo chamber instead of right wing is because of lots of heavy-handed moderation, and outright bans for racist comments. A glance at the Leper's Colony for a single day reveals enormous numbers of probations and bans. Even in GBS they'll ban people for outright racism.

One reason for this may be because the majority of humanity simply lacks a decent education, yet now has easy access to the internet. Most people don't read books now. Attention spans are at an all-time low. Few people go to college, and few of those who do actually graduate. The high school drop-out rate in the US, for example, is quite high. The more educated someone is, the more respect and understanding they tend to have of other cultures, and the less likely they are to waste a lot of time pointlessly arguing with idiots on the internet.