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Comment by Fauntleroy | Hacker News Reader

"Itchy trigger finger" explains this far better than "they're out to get me", honestly. Sure, there might be some machiavellian individuals using this as an opportunity to attack others, but by and large it's clear to see this is more of an overcompensation by people trying to do the right thing.

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Humans keep throwing stones at those they deem sinners, shouting slurs and expletives, as part of a hate group dynamic. They have no control over these actions, are not trying to achieve anything good, even if they rationalize their behavior in that way. Sure there is signaling, status and power somewhere in that mess, as it is always the case with human behavior, but these individuals are not active, not in control. They are being dragged along an ugly dynamic of group psychology that has been recorded since the beginning of history. What can help is emotional maturity achieved by self reflection, but even then one can still fall for it, because anger, agitation and hate are easier then being wise and enlightened. That is not a new insight, we have bronze age books and star wars memes about that.

what is itchy trigger finger, though, if not a yearning to express power?

It's a reaction to fear. In this case, an overreaction. People are afraid to say the wrong thing. People are afraid of having once said a wrong thing, to potentially sully their legacy or impact their career like a ticking time bomb. Or even be peripherally responsible for harboring someone who once said a wrong thing. This social movement towards accountability has created a sense of paranoia and friendly-fire, and it's not healthy for anyone.

An allergy. No, really, you can get a lot of mileage from thinking of cultural reactions to ideas as immune reactions. Some ideas we actually need to attack and destroy (any falsehood, certain proven-toxic ideologies), some just look too much like pathogens and get attacked anyway.

> An allergy.

Or to put it another way, an autoimmune disease.

Man, this is such an excellent analogy. Well done!

This is true except "the right thing" is "indiscriminate fighting" perpetuating a cycle of hatred.

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