Posted by:
midwestanon
(
)
Date: January 20, 2017 09:54AM
People sometimes use the internet as an excuse to say whatever they want, and express thoughts in whatever manner they see fit. If they spoke the way they did on the internet to people face to face, or carried out the threats they make, or displayed the level of anger, obnoxiousness, or hostility that they do at the keyboard, they would be routinely confronted, beaten, and probably arrested and jailed.
It's a form of inconsistency tantamount to cowardice. I myself have been active on message boards for well over a decade now, and the experience of communicating about a wide range of topics was thrilling and liberating, and it was easy for me to blow up and get emotional like the example Eric cited (although not usually, if ever, that cavalier in being so offensive and explicit). It has only been through experience and sometimes being schooled and learning the hard way that I have tried to be the same person online as I am in real life- say and do the same things and act the same ways.
I know others take an opposite approach, and adopt online personas, or deceive people, intentionally or otherwise. I've found that only creates problems, but it's a free country, and people take these freedoms to the extreme over the internet.
Point is, it's easy for people to blow up and spout off. There isn't any consequences that seem to matter to the people that do the blowing up- maybe they get banned from posting, or blackballed on their online community. Because of the intangibility of the internet, it's hard for individuals to see that as threatening, or serious, or of any consequence.
Society will only move more and more towards virtual discourse and communication. People need to learn to adopt the same social mores they have about face to face communication to virtual communication. I think people don't take things like this seriously, despite myriad examples of internet bullying and even suicides as a consequence of words exchanged on facebook and such.
Sometimes I still fail at being as polite as I should, and fail at trying to see myself talking to people face to face instead of behind a computer. I know I've had posts deleted and required censure. I'll commit to trying harder to being polite and being part of the solution, since I think Eric is right, and there is a problem. Like I alluded to above, I suppose people don't take certain aspects of the internet- or even the whole internet- seriously, and that's a shame. Words matter, spoken aloud, printed on paper, or typed onto a message board. I think RfM is especially important and provides an incredibly valuable service, and if there is sometimes a heavy hand in the way it's moderated, I think it's because individuals know just how important this place is to some people.
Those are my thoughts.
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/20/2017 10:17AM by midwestanon.