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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   38779 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of July 15, 2024

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What makes something toxic in my mind is the idea that it spreads. One person being a dick at work can lead to people being more likely to act that way and everything gets dragged down.

I don't think so. That would be 'virulent'. 'Toxic' is immediately poisonous at point of contact. It damages others directly. Probably it's closer to 'dysfunctional' with overtones of 'makes it difficult for others to function well'.

But mostly, like 'fascist', it's just 'things the left doesn't like', so yeah, doubleplusbad.

I understand that’s not the literal meaning of the word toxic. I’m merely observed it seems to be used when the behavior drags other people down. I’ve definitely found myself behaving in ways I don’t like in what most would call a “toxic” workplace for instance. If it were up to me that wouldn’t be the word used.

People use the word in a political context to mean both things. I've heard phrases like "David Duke is toxic to the republican party", which is more or less your framing (and the traditional one), but I think Tacherus is using it in the more colloquial and current way. It's what I thought of first, and I believe what most millenials and younger mean most of the time. With this connotation, a "toxic" friend is not bad because they are a bad person, in fact they might have a few really good qualities that you love, but the worry is that overall they rub off on you or interact with your life in a way that is harmful and spreads and you think you're better off without them. In other words, it's possibly a two-way street, but most of the time it's more the notion of entanglement and prompting negative reinforcement loops/patterns.

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