Internet ire
I'm often disturbed by the ignorance and hate mongering that is so prevalent on internet comment sections and message boards. This article analyzes the phenomenon and argues that anonymous comments reflect an aspect of our culture is rampant with ignorance and hate. I'm really fascinated and troubled by some of the ridiculousness I find on the internet, I thought this article was amazingly succinct in defining what, if any, value these angry comments bring to internet discourse. Excerpt from the article "Why I like vicious, anonymous online comments" below:
"And yet anonymous comments -- all of them, even the written equivalent of high-speed drive-by shootings -- serve a useful function. They show us what the species is really like: the full spectrum of human behavior, not just the part that we find reassuring and enlightening.
It's impossible for anyone who reads unmoderated comments threads on large websites to argue that racism, sexism or anti-Semitism are no longer problems in America, or that the educational system is not as bad as people say or that deep down most people are good at heart. Unmoderated comments threads are X-rays of the reptilian brain -- indicators of the dark stuff that rattles around in the id and that would get blurted out in the home or workplace routinely if the superego didn't intervene. Mel Gibson's rants are no more ugly than sentiments that get expressed thousands of times a day all over the Internet."
The link to read the full article is below:
www.salon.com/life/feature/2010/08/03/in_defense_of_anonymous_commenting
"And yet anonymous comments -- all of them, even the written equivalent of high-speed drive-by shootings -- serve a useful function. They show us what the species is really like: the full spectrum of human behavior, not just the part that we find reassuring and enlightening.
It's impossible for anyone who reads unmoderated comments threads on large websites to argue that racism, sexism or anti-Semitism are no longer problems in America, or that the educational system is not as bad as people say or that deep down most people are good at heart. Unmoderated comments threads are X-rays of the reptilian brain -- indicators of the dark stuff that rattles around in the id and that would get blurted out in the home or workplace routinely if the superego didn't intervene. Mel Gibson's rants are no more ugly than sentiments that get expressed thousands of times a day all over the Internet."
The link to read the full article is below:
www.salon.com/life/feature/2010/08/03/in_defense_of_anonymous_commenting