I was writing something like “I understand but here’s why it has to be this way”, but then I read comments about not wanting to take the high road and how being nice gets you nowhere. So instead: when I was a young adult in the 2000’s, angrily telling someone to “go f themselves” face-to-face might get you punched in the mouth. Someone who started swearing at everyone whenever they were angry was labelled an asshole. It’s not like I spent those years in a weak, no-confrontation, “let’s hug instead” environment either - my friends and I just didn’t put up with regular disrespect. I’ll stop there because I don’t want to glorify violence - there are better ways to deal with insults and we didn’t fight often. Most of the time jackasses just didn’t get invited anymore.

My point: online, anonymous communication removed a lot of social and physical consequences of confrontation, but that doesn’t make being nasty alright. You may say, “It’s just a f you”, but your comments make me think that being nasty is the intent. Not trying to shame you but if I’m right about hurting others being the goal then: yeah, admittedly that’s not rare anymore but you can do better.

Also you say being nice doesn’t get you anywhere. I’d ask: when was the last time you told someone to f themselves and they were like, “Oh, I never considered that. You’ve won me over.” Trading insults online leaves everyone angry and encourages inventive cruelty so the other person is hurt more. Anger is natural - we all feel it and I need to self-censor all the damn time. But there are better ways to deal with being angry, and even to reduce the amount of time you spend angry.