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Comment by Terr_ | Hacker News Reader

> There are a number of possible explanations for the different rates at which various groups unfriended others over politics.

Throwing one more on the pile: Perhaps self-identified Democrats were more willing to create social-media links with broader sets of other people in the first place, which now means a correspondingly greater scope for un-friending during controversial periods.

It's easier to avoid un-friending a person if (A) you have very strong requirements before you mark them as friends in the first place or (B) your friend-set is small in absolute terms.

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I'd chalk it up a lot more to population migration / economic trends than anything else. There are a lot more Democrats who used to live in now-Republican enclaves and have since cut ties with them than vice-versa. i.e. people who grew up in rural areas, went to college, then moved to cities upon graduation. In this election, much of the Republican vote came from places "left behind", whether you want to read that as "ignored to rot by the elite" or "disastrously clinging to a past that will never come back" depends on who you ascribe agency to / sympathize with, but I'd argue much of the "unfriending" is caught up in that storyline.

Its hard to say without a more detailed analysis. But there is a cultural drift towards censorship on the left.

No Platforming, Safe Spaces, Political Correctness are all movements that predominantly come from the Leftist Ideological spectrum.

So the willingness of a Democrat to censor ideas that disagree with there own is validated and 'normalized' by these left leaning movements.

"Safe Spaces" and "Political Correctness" are not censorship. They are about changing cultural interactions. I'm not a real "supporter" of either ideologies, but I believe its good to be nice to each other.

These movements do not 'changing culture' they create ideological bubbles where radical views get promoted and push the in-group ideology furtherer and further away from tolerance of other people with different views.

One of the points in the article was that Democrats are more willing to self segregate from people they have disagreements with on social media. Its not clear if this is a trend that is increasing or not. My guess is that it is. The left has wrapped these bubbles movements like safe spaces in a positive language that makes it acceptable for those in the bubble.

I agree with this sentiment, but would add that I'd rather people want to be nice to each other than be forced to be nice to each other. It's a lot more compelling to have reasons why being nice is good than to just tell people to do what we want them to.

You are being forced to nice to each other?? I'm confused what you are talking about.

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