Don't get me wrong. This site's dunking culture is good and it serves an important purpose. It's an immune system that stops bad-faith trolls and fascists from getting a foot in the door. Just like a biological immune system, though, it can get overactive and start attacking its own body. This is called an autoimmune disease and it can severely damage or even kill its host body.
What's appropriate for a lib or a fascist who refuses to even consider whether they might be wrong about our fundamental ideas isn't appropriate for a comrade who, in good faith, is voicing an opinion you happen to disagree with. This is very similar to something Mao talks about in his essay "On The Correct Handling Of Contradictions Among The People." Mao's essay splits contradictions into two types:
- Antagonistic contradictions are those between class and political opponents with irreconcilable interests. There's no real debate to be had here. They're enemies. You don't engage in dialog with them. You defeat them.
- Non-antagonistic contradictions are those that occur within a class or movement. The interests of all involved are fundamentally aligned, but there's disagreement on how to advance those interests. These disagreements are resolved through discussion that improves mutual understanding and allows for arrival at a consensus.
Applying the analogy to posting on Hexbear:
- Antagonistic contradiction: A chud wanders in to lecture the site about how Stalin killed 50 quintillion people / Hamas is an evil terrorist group / the transes are corrupting the youth. You can't convince these people and it's not worth trying. Post dunks, express hostility, drive them off. That's community hygiene.
- Non-antagonistic contradiction: A comrade who's been on this site for years voices a concern that you posted something bigoted / disagrees with your interpretation of a work of media / advocates engaging with people politically in a way you don't consider effective. You both want communism, you are both anti-imperialist, you both want Hexbear to be a welcoming space for marginalized people. Good-faith dialogue is a way to share information and enhance mutual understanding. Responding to these people with insults and dunks just pisses them off and discourages them or anyone watching from engaging with the site except to post their own insults and dunks. The site becomes more toxic and hostile.
i think maybe we're thinking about different kinds of being an asshole? maybe that's what your first point was so ig feel free to skip this paragraph. the PPB shit and all the "you're stupid fuck off" comments i agree are probably not terribly helpful. but like idk. when someone's being obstinate about being a liberal even though everyone can see they clearly don't know shit, i think it might be helpful to explain why they're wrong in a way that makes them understand they're an egoistic asshole who knows nothing.
as for your second point, i definitely think it's helpful to make spaces where people can respectfully ask questions. maybe even stuff like "why is racism bad" or whatever. but there were times i was being kinda obstinate and arguing about things i really didn't know anything about and acting like i did. that's the kind of situation i think forcefulness can sometimes be helpful. i think a lot of liberals have this idea that it's not possible to be wrong about the state of the world and everyone's opinion is equal in substance so long as it's something they consider "political". that's the sort of attitude that i think it might be good to tear down this way. not by like PPB'ing them but by reductio ad absurdum or similar.