Bad Behavior on the Internet
If anything, the interactive World Wide Web has shown us that many people do not ‘behave appropriately’ toward other people. It seems, at times, that the world or at least the internet part of it is full of rude, abusive, aggressive idiots. From what I have read and have been told, many users of popular social networking sites will be aware of this (and I am now also aware of this in August 2014).
Although I have had a static website for 14 years, my blogging endeavors are new. After searching around and looking at other blogs and comments I realized the dangers of not moderating my blog. I’m not a prude, I studied language and use taboo words, like many other people, but not with people that I don’t know or see often. There is a matter of trust between people who don’t bother with the ‘manners’ of language and use words which are taboo in public. Using taboo words is a form of play where there is trust between friends.
I also do my best not to be offensive toward my fellow men, women and children, after all, we are all one family. If I consciously insult someone then I am causing distress to a family member whether he or she is in Africa, China, Japan, wherever. We are all people struggling to make sense of this corrupt and corrupting world society.
I thought that I was, if not alone, then in a minority in seeing this until I read an article by Robert Fisk in the UK Independent newspaper Our addiction to the internet is as harmful as any drug in which he discusses the lack of what I might call ‘acceptable social behavior’ or ‘good manners’ to use an old and probably obsolete term. Some people who respond to unmoderated blogs are rude, abusive, vulgar, obscene, opinionated and nearly always ungrammatical. Fisk mentions that he heard of a government minister who committed suicide after receiving many abusive comments.
If we construct a ‘writer’ of the comments from their comments then the picture is pretty grim: an uneducated, unintelligent, self-centred individual (not a human-being – an individual) aggressive and cowardly, socially-challenged ignoramus.
Of course what we might do, and what I do often now, is to look at the circumstances or conditions that produce this socially-unacceptable behavior. If people are abusive then they are angry so what are they angry about?
- Are they angry because of a bad, limited, useless or nonexistent education?
- Are they angry because of restrictive social conditions where if you are not rich or well-connected you stay at the bottom of the heap?
- Are they angry because the only paying work open to them (if there is any) is repetitive, mind-rotting, ‘conveyor-belt’ work?
- Are they angry because the state police target them because they are seen as ‘different’?
- Are they angry because of bad or nonexistent parenting?
The list is endless.
I do not support abuse of any kind but look beyond the words: They – all these angry, abusive people – are all someone’s children and every ‘someone’ is our family so it is all our responsibility. See the truth in that.
Are you up to helping to sort this out? There is absolutely no point in waiting for those with power to do it. They simply look after themselves and disregard all others. People with power and ‘authority’ are individuals, not human beings.
Class: Computering - also social-politics
Tags: Ethical-living, language use, politics, right-living, unethical Capitalism.
Published: 2014-05-28.
