in the 90s, I read about how religious extremists in certain countries were targeting moderates. This seemed very odd at the time, because the moderate position just seemed the normal sensible person position.

Over time though, moderate preachers were singled out, and in some cases killed, because they didn’t take a stand. This created a chilling effect.

Coupled with incendiary and emotional images (“look at these pictures, look at what they’ve done to our children! You are either with us or with them.”), and no push back or ability to prevent such polarization, extremism grew stronger.

This is the gist of what I remember, it’s been years and many other crises since then.

However I am struck, as to how social media is creating those same dynamics - but now for everything from gender, race, religion, politics, nationality, to brand loyalty and maybe even gaming.

The best solution I saw for dealing with social media was dropping off it altogether.