Douglas Rushkoff is a media theorist. His new new book, "Team Human," was published Tuesday by W. W. Norton. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his. View more opinion articles on CNN.

(CNN) A viral video has once again confirmed everyone's preconceptions about human nature, the state of our politics and even "kids nowadays."

Douglas Rushkoff

Yes, the confrontation between a teenage boy in a MAGA hat and an older Native American at the Lincoln Memorial last Friday was a sick spectacle. If you recoiled when you first saw it online, you were right to be disgusted. But you shouldn't conclude -- no matter what version of the video you saw -- that it captures some meaningful reflection of human nature or even America's current cultural divide.

It doesn't. It simply demonstrates how social media amplify and inflame our tensions. These online platforms and the algorithms driving them are the real enemies of humankind. Not a few smug white kids or chanting American Indian elders.

In this episode in particular, we now know, the video only went viral after it was posted on a network of anonymous and spoofed Twitter accounts used specifically to promote divisive, sensationalist stories on all sides of the political spectrum. Yes, it seems there are people, organizations, and even whole countries who use social media to provoke and confirm our worst fears of one another.

They have a lot to work with here. In this incident, for example, there are progressives who see the white-male racism of President Trump's Make American Great Again crowd perpetuating itself in a new generation of young fascist bullies. Instead of seeing one obnoxious child and his rowdy pubescent buddies, they see evidence of a neo-Nazi sensibility taking hold among American youth.

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