This is My Rant. And it is a good one.

It started with a story that shook Josi to her core. A young man posted in a local Facebook group asking if anyone knew someone experienced with dreadlocks. A completely innocent post. The comments that followed were some of the cruellest things she had ever read directed at another human being. For doing absolutely nothing wrong.

In this episode, Josi digs into one of the most important conversations of our time: why people say things online they would never say to anyone's face, who these people actually are, and what is really going on psychologically when someone types something vile at a stranger on the internet.

She breaks down the Online Disinhibition Effect, the three types of people who leave hate comments, and the concept of moral grandstanding, where people perform outrage not because they are genuinely angry but because it makes them look good to their own audience.

Then there is rage bait. Posts deliberately designed to make you furious. Josi explains how the algorithm rewards outrage, why creators learn to sharpen the edges of their content and how your angry comment, however justified, is making someone else money. Yes, even that Andrew Tate comment you really wanted to leave.

She also gets personal. About being on the receiving end of hate messages after defending strangers online. About the instinct to hit back. About the dreadlocks story and why that kind of hate in her teenage years, when she had no confidence, would have genuinely cost her her mental health.

Plus the research. A major 2025 study linking repeated online hate to depression, anxiety and reduced life satisfaction. And brand new 2026 research arguing that online hate should stop being called hate speech and start being called what it actually is, violence.

And finally, three practical things you can actually do about it. Because this episode is not just a rant. It is a call to build something better.

Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and all major podcast platforms. 🎙️