The phrase I chose as the title gives its name to a recent section of the Renaissance Radiocreated by actor and comedian Vasco Pereira Coutinho, and has often come to mind in recent times, especially when we talk about social interaction. And the internet, where most of the relationships between humans now seem to take place. After all, where do these levels of increasing aggressiveness come from that we not only follow but become legitimized over time?
Two scientific publications give us clues. Earlier this year, an article in the magazine Psychology Today it explained the historical trends of violence and social and cultural factors that can influence aggression and how it was currently taking on new forms in different environments, such as the internet. “Understanding the problem of online aggression is challenging, but it is useful to start with one of the fundamental explanations of aggression in social psychology literature: the frustration-aggression hypothesis”, wrote the author. The entire article, available in English, and which cites several studies, is well worth reading, but in a very brief and overly simplistic summary, we need to know this: people who are frustrated often become violent, and this is particularly true when they have narcissistic personality traits, which means that they react violently to the fact that others, other than them, may have more protagonism than they believe is their due. Now, on the internet, protagonism measured in ‘likes’ and views’ can be a problem for these people. And therefore, feelings of insecurity and their fragile self-esteem lead to much more violent language online (and much more aggressive than if they were face-to-face with the people in question). Another publication from Harvard Medical School reported, back in 2018, that the majority of commentators on the Internet try to counter content (even if scientific) with their personal experience and, therefore, their emotional response is amplified “leading to stronger language than they would use in the real world”.
Of course, all of this is inevitably linked to the escalation of aggressive discourse in public forums and, as I have already mentioned here, legitimized even by rulers and representatives of the nation. At a time when the world is so extreme, when there are so many problems in need of solutions and when it seems to be so easy to say one thing and the opposite on the same day, perhaps it is important to keep this information in mind. That’s Vasco Pereira Coutinho’s phrase. When in doubt, “people have to calm down immediately” and avoid escalating tension in an environment that is anything but serene. Now here is something that is in our hands and that we can work on every day.