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The real world is a complicated place. You want simple answers when reality is complicated and nuanced.

The fact is that there are—and have always been—people for which these things are not the same. You might want to wish it away, but that doesn't change reality.

While “the left” in the US is incredibly nebulous, largely composed of groups and people that rarely agree on nearly anything at all, let alone a literary style, this recent article(1) about Bluesky has an eloquent description of “the right” when it comes to online spaces.

> Liberals and the left do not need the right to be online in the way that the right needs liberals and the left. The nature of reactionary politics demands constant confrontations—literal reactions—to the left. People like Rufo would have a substantially harder time trying to influence opinions on a platform without liberals. “Triggering the libs” sounds like a joke, but it is often essential for segments of the right.

The assumption that strangers on the internet are interested in or obligated to engage with “debate me bro”-style theatrics any time a person feels like summoning them to is very much a specific example of hyperreality that is particularly endemic amongst “the right”

> I'm going to go ahead and stick my dick in the hornets nest

You can put your dick somewhere else. It is not interesting here.

1 https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/11/twitt...

Except this is yet another example of who's actually doing the navel gazing. I think it's clear your objection here isn't the navel gazing, so let's speak plainly.