And that is pretty much how it all goes down when people get into political arguments on the internet.
This made me wonder if the fact that we can hide behind our anonymous screennames causes us to become more bold then we would be in real life? No one is this rude (usually) when they disagree, so when we're on the internet where does all the politeness and common decency go? There is no point to these arguments in the end because no one's mind is going to change if you sound rude, bitter, or just plain crazy.
How does this relate to the summer reading? As much as society today is similar to that of Brave New World in the sense that we have fallen in love with technology, we differ greatly in that we feel too strongly about issues where as the society of Brave New World felt nothing at all. They didn't have strong opinions. I think we love getting emotional too much to give it up.
This made me wonder if the fact that we can hide behind our anonymous screen names causes us to become more bold then we would be in real life?
ReplyDeleteTo answer your pondering mind above, Yes, of course. We should all know since the first time of internet use, we discovered egos. With the internet and all this "unknown" applications we can become someone else and say things we would NEVER dream of saying to someones face. I believe that no one exists on the internet, and it's true; no one does. I think there are pros and cons of this bitter, rude "anonymous" situation.
Pros:
*People will give you their honest opinions, whether they are rude or not. I know I've done some gutsy things over the internet that I probably wouldn't do or say to someone in real life, although I am not a shy person, I just developed a sort of "ego".
*People will always tell you when they don't like you or what you have to say. Happens all the time; that's why I don't do much internet socializing because you know someone so much better in person. Friendships online are tricky, you can talk to someone all night and all day online but if you see each other at school you walk past them like you hardly know each other! Talk about shady.
Cons:
*People lie about who they are online so the niceness you speak of usually goes away. The internet is like a mask to them and people will never stop hiding who they truly are, obviously you and I have nothing to hide, but say this was a chat room, most likely we would put on a mask as well.
*Cyberbullying will never die. Enough said.
*Leniency is never given to users of the web. Come all, any size and any age. It won't matter what you look like, what you say, how you dress or how much money you have. People will still say they hate your opinion and people will still speak against you. It comes with the internet. No one gets mercy. I guess, it's the price you pay.
Although, it wouldn't kill people to be nice over the internet. If you don't speak like that in real life, don't speak like that over the internet; it's as simple as that.
I laughed at the last two comments of that Facebook post. The sad truth is that when someone brings up their honest opinion that deviates from the crowd, a lowlife knocks them down.
ReplyDeleteI think, however, Breahna, that you are slightly missing a key point. On this example, you get a sense that their “honest opinions” are not honestly theirs. Yes, they will say it out loud, but it is probably something they heard on a talk show or read on a blog. People get arrogant because they think some professional political expert knows what he or she is talking about, so their opinion can be recycled for their own.
So basically, Carina, it should be applauded when someone posts their opinion that it is independent from mainstream media, profanity, and rude language.
Yes Kevin you are right; Just as the guy on that chatting log did. He copied word-for-word what some guy said on cable, I guess he thought that guy was intelligent because he was on television, ha.
ReplyDeleteI could not agree more with you, Carina. The availability of all these social networking sites where we can virtually say anything we want has made people bolder and lose their decency. We often do not care what we say online because we think that the worst thing that the other person can do is attack us verbally online and that's it. In rare cases, some people might actually take the time to report the uncivilized action or even worse: to hunt the person down, and possibly harm him/her. As for Breahna, I agree with you as well. The Internet definitely has it's pros and cons, but as long as we take precautions and keep in mind the aphorisms such as to "think before you speak" and "don't do unto others what you don't want others to do unto you" don't you think it is safe to say that the Internet can be enjoyable?
ReplyDelete