--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If we can avoid doing violence to the…" description: "\"“If we can avoid doing violence to the minds of unseen others on the internet, others will learn to do the same. And then perhaps our internet traffic ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e9f/timothy-snyder-882_internet_if-we-can-avoid-doing-violence-to-the-mi_2973568.jpg" --- # If we can avoid doing violence to the minds of unseen… ![“If we can avoid doing violence to the minds of unseen others on the internet, others will learn to do the same. And then perhaps our internet traffic will cease to look like one great, bloody accident.” quote by Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e9f/timothy-snyder-882_internet_if-we-can-avoid-doing-violence-to-the-mi_2973568.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e9f/timothy-snyder-882_internet_if-we-can-avoid-doing-violence-to-the-mi_2973568.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e9f/timothy-snyder-882_internet_if-we-can-avoid-doing-violence-to-the-mi_2973568.jpg) > ““If we can avoid doing violence to the minds of unseen others on the internet, others will learn to do the same. And then perhaps our internet traffic will cease to look like one great, bloody accident.”” [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Violence in online discourse harms collective mindset; restraint encourages mutual respect and reduces chaos. **In simple terms:** Online cruelty damages society; kindness can calm the web. Key Takeaway Practice respectful communication online. Themes digital ethics communicationpathy social responsibility Mood concerned hopeful Type reflective inspirational When to use this quote - social media discussions - online forums - public comment sections Key Concepts psychology media theory Questions to Reflect On - How can we foster empathy in anonymous online spaces? - What policies could reduce digital hostility? A Different Perspective Changing behavior requires systemic platform design changes. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Internet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/internet/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Violence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/violence/) ## Related quotes > [State violence cannot be defined simply as a political issue but also as a pedagogical issue that wages violence against the minds, desires, bodies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/state-violence-cannot-be-defined-simply-as-a-political-issue-but-also/) [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) > [I use the Internet for what it's for: to learn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/danny-brown/i-use-the-internet-for-what-it-s-for-to-learn/) [Danny Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/danny-brown/) > [“Many of the bishops had purchased their sees, and most of these naturally preferred doing violence to their opinions rather than lose their revenues.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-finlay/many-of-the-bishops-had-purchased-their-sees-and-most-of-these/) George Finlay > [It seems in this day and age our teens are going to the Internet to learn all the things we would ask our dads.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-rivers/it-seems-in-this-day-and-age-our-teens-are-going-to-the-internet-to/) [Philip Rivers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-rivers/) > [“Some men are made for doing violence. Some are meant for planning it. Then there are a special few whose talent is for taking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-abercrombie/some-men-are-made-for-doing-violence-some-are-meant-for-planning-it/) [Joe Abercrombie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-abercrombie/) > [“As long as we do violence to other animals, we’ll keep on doing violence to ourselves.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-russell/as-long-as-we-do-violence-to-other-animals-we-ll-keep-on-doing/) [Paul Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-russell/) > [There's huge access to information. If you need to learn something, you can go on the Internet and learn very quickly. You can reach…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fred-deluca/there-s-huge-access-to-information-if-you-need-to-learn-something-you/) [Fred DeLuca](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fred-deluca/) > [There's so much free material on the Internet you can learn from, and some people are pure self-starters: they pick up computers and teach…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tyler-cowen/there-s-so-much-free-material-on-the-internet-you-can-learn-from-and/) [Tyler Cowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tyler-cowen/) > [My experience teaches me that truth can never be propagated by doing violence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/my-experience-teaches-me-that-truth-can-never-be-propagated-by-doing/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Dictatorship is rule based directly upon force and unrestricted by any laws. 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I should let him bite me to death…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/i-do-not-want-to-live-at-the-cost-of-the-life-even-of-a-snake-i/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Joking about violence is not funny.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/perez-hilton/joking-about-violence-is-not-funny/) [Perez Hilton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/perez-hilton/) > [Every one knows that the exercise of military power is forever dangerous to civil rights; and we have had recent instances of violences that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-adams/every-one-knows-that-the-exercise-of-military-power-is-forever/) [Samuel Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-adams/) ## More by Timothy Snyder > [“Nationalism is relativist, since the only truth is the resentment we feel when we contemplate others.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/nationalism-is-relativist-since-the-only-truth-is-the-resentment-we/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“The time is out of joint. O cursed spite,/That ever I was born to set it right!” Thus Hamlet. Yet he concludes: “Nay, come,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/the-time-is-out-of-joint-o-cursed-spite-that-ever-i-was-born-to-set/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“the democracies that arose after the First World War (and the Second) often collapsed when a single party seized power in some combination of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/the-democracies-that-arose-after-the-first-world-war-and-the-second/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“salami tactics—slicing off layers of opposition one by one. Most people were distracted, some were imprisoned, and others were outmatched.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/salami-tactics-slicing-off-layers-of-opposition-one-by-one-most/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“We allowed ourselves to accept the politics of inevitability, the sense that history could move in only one direction: toward liberal democracy...We imbibed the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/we-allowed-ourselves-to-accept-the-politics-of-inevitability-the/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“The key to this translation of ideology to politics in both cases was an effective appeal to human experience at the crucial time.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/the-key-to-this-translation-of-ideology-to-politics-in-both-cases-was/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“Both of these positions, inevitability and eternity, are antihistorical. 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But the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/extremism-certainly-sounds-bad-and-governments-often-try-to-make-it/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) [Explore all 339 Timothy Snyder quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) ## More Internet quotes > [The only people who think the Internet is a calamity are people whose lives have been hurt by it; the only people who insist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-klosterman/the-only-people-who-think-the-internet-is-a-calamity-are-people-whose/) [Chuck Klosterman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-klosterman/) > [I enjoy upsetting the right people. I love poking fun at earnest censors. I want to push the bounds of what can be said…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milo-yiannopoulos/i-enjoy-upsetting-the-right-people-i-love-poking-fun-at-earnest/) [Milo Yiannopoulos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milo-yiannopoulos/) > [ The social \[media channel\] isn't about beauty contests and popularity contests. They're a distortion, a caricature of the real thing. It's about trust, connection,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umair-haque/the-social-media-channel-isn-t-about-beauty-contests-and-popularity/) [Umair Haque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umair-haque/) > [Though 'Fat City' was written long before cellphones or the Internet, its human apparatus is state of the art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-dunn/though-fat-city-was-written-long-before-cellphones-or-the-internet/) [Katherine Dunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-dunn/) > [We became Homo sapiens not that long ago, from the scientific perspective, and we've retained a lot of our beast nature. 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I'd always thought it was an old wives' tale - a sand…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-fogle/i-remembered-reading-about-a-disease-called-leishmaniasis-which/) [Ben Fogle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-fogle/) > [The Internet lets thousands of total strangers collaborate to produce a truly hivelike result.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clive-thompson/the-internet-lets-thousands-of-total-strangers-collaborate-to-produce/) [Clive Thompson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clive-thompson/) > [People are reading more and writing more because of the internet. So the virtual world is a way for me to listen to my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/people-are-reading-more-and-writing-more-because-of-the-internet-so/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [I don't have faith in the Internet, I have faith in people connected through the Internet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-gilliam/i-don-t-have-faith-in-the-internet-i-have-faith-in-people-connected/) Jim Gilliam > [The internet is very democratizing in some ways, but it also has other effects.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-remnick/the-internet-is-very-democratizing-in-some-ways-but-it-also-has-other/) [David Remnick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-remnick/) > [One of the Internet's highest-profile companies, Priceline once dreamed of transforming the way consumer goods are bought and sold by offering customers the chance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-berenson/one-of-the-internet-s-highest-profile-companies-priceline-once/) [Alex Berenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-berenson/) > [Use Google Before Asking A Stupid Question.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muskaan/use-google-before-asking-a-stupid-question/) [Muskaan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muskaan/) > [“Some innovations just don’t attract enough economic or social demand: just as supersonic flight and manned space flight stagnated after the 1970s, today (in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-j-rees/some-innovations-just-don-t-attract-enough-economic-or-social-demand/) Martin J. Rees > [Moveon is not a one-way broadcast media. The Internet, when used best, is a two-way media. We have a forum in which people can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-blades/moveon-is-not-a-one-way-broadcast-media-the-internet-when-used-best/) [Joan Blades](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-blades/) [Browse all 9,049 Internet quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/internet/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“If we can avoid doing violence to the minds of unseen others on the internet, others will learn to do the same. 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