A lot of the really dangerous stuff online starts out as a joke. The comedy thing is a great example, right? All these people say, it's just a joke. Why are you being a wet blanket? What would it mean if you were to take seriously the idea that this joke is a step down a potentially slippery slope that could get really scary? I don't think that means that you ban the speech. It changes how you reflect on it and how you would encourage people in your life to respond to it.
The internet can be a wonderful, but also a terribly unpleasant place. Andrew Marantz knows this well. He is a staff writer at The New Yorker who spent three years embedded in the world of internet trolls to understand how regular people propel fringe talking points into the heart of online conversations. In this episode, he shares how ideas spread on the internet – and what we can do to make our digital experiences less about doom-scrolling, and more about real human connection. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts