Manifestation of tolerance / intolerance in non-professional discussions of media users (based on linguistic discussions)

Publications of users in various non-institutional media on current and controversial topics of a professional nature, as well as comments to them by other “amateur” users, are in the zone of tolerant tension due to a number of reasons: conflict of the topics discussed and increased attention to them; discrepancy between the professional competence of users and the topics discussed; absence of professional and ethical standards in this kind of media; anonymity of virtual communication. The aim of the work was to determine such a gradation characteristic of user comments as tolerance in the structure of discussions on blog platforms. This allows us to judge the level of speech tolerance or, conversely, intolerance, aggressiveness in media intended for the creation and viewing of amateur content and forming the value-semantic sphere of users, their speech culture and, in general, the rhetorical code of our time. The material for the study was the comments to the article 11 Borrowed Words That Most People Consider Disgusting: A New Selection posted on the Yandex Zen platform. The author comes to the following main conclusions: comments by non-professional users in discussions devoted to current linguistic issues and, as a result, very popular on the Internet, are overwhelmingly intolerant towards new phenomena of speech and language; the few tolerant messages from users have a minimal or insignificant degree of tolerance; a small group consists of comments of an ambivalent nature - intolerant-tolerant, their authors try to approach the consideration of discussion topics as objectively and critically as possible and to demonstrate a balanced view of current issues; intolerant and tolerant texts are more emotional, expressive and less rational; intolerant-tolerant messages, on the contrary, are more rational and logically verified, which is expressed at the substantive and structural levels of their organization.