Outrage can be a way to enhance your prestige in a public forum
Date created: 2022-10-17
This dynamic quickly becomes a race to the bottom with less nuance and discussion, and more outrage.
Like a succession of orators speaking to a skeptical audience, each person strives to outdo previous speakers, leading to some common patterns. Grandstanders tend to “trump up moral charges, pile on in cases of public shaming, announce that anyone who disagrees with them is obviously wrong, or exaggerate emotional displays.” Nuance and truth are casualties in this competition to gain the approval of the audience.