Comprehension skills are severely lacking in a significant number of Americans. We know it based on the typical adult American reading level being so pathetically low. We know it from the interactions we see and have online with other Americans.

I firmly believe that comprehension gap is why people go hunting for perceived slights. Everywhere they turn is an opportunity for a new fight.

And it seems even worse with teens if we take Tiktok into account. The adults there aren't much better. It is all really an indictment of the American education system.

Lemmy's few hurdles are seemingly enough to keep these people out (for the most part). There also isn't the critical mass of people to spark that mob mentality, at least that's how I feel about it. People here are mostly chill overall and it truly reminds me of Reddit 15+ years ago.

That is inevitably going to change, for the worse, as apps refine the sign up and usage processes. That is inevitably going to change as bad actors, like Meta, are allowed to federate and push their low quality into our spaces along with advertisements disguised as posts and comments. We all know this is going to happen; threads will be used to run influence campaigns. That's what happens with all of their properties, and with Reddit.

And people influential in Lemmy are signing NDAs with bad actors to allow it to happen.