> Toxicity: A rude, disrespectful, or unreasonable comment that is likely to
make people leave a discussion
Rude and disrespectful are subjective. As a layperson learning biology for fun (e.g. Bob Sapolsky lectures) I often chuckle at how rude or shocking nature can be! I grimace at how nature videos (e.g. a pride of lions hunting a baby elephant) will garner comments like "you're sick for filming this!" or "do something to help!".
Ignaz Semmelweis discovered that microscopic particles (what we now know as bacteria) on the hands and body were causing women and babies to become infected during birth. He was considered a misinformation-spreading pariah for a quarter century until links were made between germs and diseases.
But for the 25 years it took the ideas to mature and reach mainstream, he was "toxic".
I think looking at the examples and their rating of toxicity, there's a difference between a Semmelweis who says, "I think you're killing people with established practice" and a theoretical one who says, "You [expletive] [ethnic slur] ... should be shot like a dog in the street."
The point is Semmelweis, whose information saved huge numbers of human lives, would be lumped in the same category (“toxic”) as your theoretical example, on account of Sammelweis being considered rude and disrespectful.
In simplest terms, ideas that threaten orthodoxy can be considered rude and disrespectful, and thus “toxic”.
So perhaps the definition of toxic needs more refinement, or toxicity isn't the right thing to be looking at,
despite it sounding about right in everyday conversation.
Rude and disrespectful are subjective. As a layperson learning biology for fun (e.g. Bob Sapolsky lectures) I often chuckle at how rude or shocking nature can be! I grimace at how nature videos (e.g. a pride of lions hunting a baby elephant) will garner comments like "you're sick for filming this!" or "do something to help!".
Ignaz Semmelweis discovered that microscopic particles (what we now know as bacteria) on the hands and body were causing women and babies to become infected during birth. He was considered a misinformation-spreading pariah for a quarter century until links were made between germs and diseases.
But for the 25 years it took the ideas to mature and reach mainstream, he was "toxic".