Cyber Holocaust
Let’s take a moment to review…the Internet is not your living room.
I know we all have places on the internet where we feel comfortable. We think we can let our hair down and put our feet up, and divest ourselves of the inhibitions that rule our “real” lives. We let the anonymity and the lack of accountability loosen our lips. We confide things to internet acquaintances that we would never, ever share with people we must face and look in the eye. We behave in ways that we would never consider behaving with real people.
Why? Because we can. Like children in a candy store, the temptation is too great for some people to resist. And people are lulled into a false sense of security on the internet. They think they can say what they like with impunity because nobody knows who they are. And if they use some common sense, there is some element of truth in this.
But people who use the internet do not use common sense
They share their deepest darkest secrets and unburden their souls on every message board, blog, and chat room they can find. They litter the internet landscape with the refuse of their disappointment, bitterness and regret. They harangue, harass and malign their enemies with shocking abandon. They indulge in sophomoric name calling. They openly judge people based on their politics, their religion or their race. They freely opine on other people’s parenting, morality, and integrity. They make unfounded and even blatantly false accusations of every imaginable kind. Even worse, some use it to indulge in violent, degrading fantasies with people of similar proclivities, and to prey upon the innocence that fuels them. All this they do in the name of free speech, never expecting or believing that their behavior will touch their real lives.
And yet, they do not take care to protect their identity. No... They drop little pieces of their lives and their identity like breadcrumbs…a tasty little trail for anybody who cares to follow. They post pictures, with license plate and house numbers plainly visible. They refer to spouses and children by name, and identify their places of work, worship and recreation. They blather on about anything and everything; oblivious to the fact that the unending stream of information is like a fingerprint, just waiting to be lifted by a criminal, an enemy, or a loved one betrayed. And they are always positively shocked when someone, somewhere, puts the pieces together and fingers them for a fraud, a scoundrel, a pervert or a traitor.
People like to think that real life and the life they live on the internet are intrinsically separate. They are not. Eventually the ugliness, bitterness and hatred bleed into real life, the wounds they have opened stigmata that will not be stanched, and stubbornly refuse to heal. And though my thoughts regarding a “higher power” have not coalesced into a religious idealogy, I do believe that acts of unkindness and hatred are revisited upon the offender by the cosmos…some day. It’s a thought that lends me a small measure of comfort and satisfaction.
So, what has this to do with blogs? Well, nothing, I suppose. But if you pick a random blog to read, chances are, you will find something hateful being said about someone; something. A real life acquaintance, a political or religious group, people who espouse a given philosophy or parenting style. Blogs are just another way of spreading the bitterness and discontent of a life lived in emotional and moral squalor.
Yes…the internet gives us the freedom to be truly wretched to one another. What a boon it has been to mankind. And yet there is hope. The human race has recovered from many instances where man has done unspeakable things to his fellow man. After the horror and sorrow abate; after time heals the wounds and lends a measure of objectivity, we have been made stronger, wiser, and determined not to let history repeat itself.
Maybe, just maybe, there is hope that man will recover from the internet.
(Dedicated to beckygirl...Karma's a bitch, ain't it hon? Don't bother to repent, its too late for you.)
I know we all have places on the internet where we feel comfortable. We think we can let our hair down and put our feet up, and divest ourselves of the inhibitions that rule our “real” lives. We let the anonymity and the lack of accountability loosen our lips. We confide things to internet acquaintances that we would never, ever share with people we must face and look in the eye. We behave in ways that we would never consider behaving with real people.
Why? Because we can. Like children in a candy store, the temptation is too great for some people to resist. And people are lulled into a false sense of security on the internet. They think they can say what they like with impunity because nobody knows who they are. And if they use some common sense, there is some element of truth in this.
But people who use the internet do not use common sense
They share their deepest darkest secrets and unburden their souls on every message board, blog, and chat room they can find. They litter the internet landscape with the refuse of their disappointment, bitterness and regret. They harangue, harass and malign their enemies with shocking abandon. They indulge in sophomoric name calling. They openly judge people based on their politics, their religion or their race. They freely opine on other people’s parenting, morality, and integrity. They make unfounded and even blatantly false accusations of every imaginable kind. Even worse, some use it to indulge in violent, degrading fantasies with people of similar proclivities, and to prey upon the innocence that fuels them. All this they do in the name of free speech, never expecting or believing that their behavior will touch their real lives.
And yet, they do not take care to protect their identity. No... They drop little pieces of their lives and their identity like breadcrumbs…a tasty little trail for anybody who cares to follow. They post pictures, with license plate and house numbers plainly visible. They refer to spouses and children by name, and identify their places of work, worship and recreation. They blather on about anything and everything; oblivious to the fact that the unending stream of information is like a fingerprint, just waiting to be lifted by a criminal, an enemy, or a loved one betrayed. And they are always positively shocked when someone, somewhere, puts the pieces together and fingers them for a fraud, a scoundrel, a pervert or a traitor.
People like to think that real life and the life they live on the internet are intrinsically separate. They are not. Eventually the ugliness, bitterness and hatred bleed into real life, the wounds they have opened stigmata that will not be stanched, and stubbornly refuse to heal. And though my thoughts regarding a “higher power” have not coalesced into a religious idealogy, I do believe that acts of unkindness and hatred are revisited upon the offender by the cosmos…some day. It’s a thought that lends me a small measure of comfort and satisfaction.
So, what has this to do with blogs? Well, nothing, I suppose. But if you pick a random blog to read, chances are, you will find something hateful being said about someone; something. A real life acquaintance, a political or religious group, people who espouse a given philosophy or parenting style. Blogs are just another way of spreading the bitterness and discontent of a life lived in emotional and moral squalor.
Yes…the internet gives us the freedom to be truly wretched to one another. What a boon it has been to mankind. And yet there is hope. The human race has recovered from many instances where man has done unspeakable things to his fellow man. After the horror and sorrow abate; after time heals the wounds and lends a measure of objectivity, we have been made stronger, wiser, and determined not to let history repeat itself.
Maybe, just maybe, there is hope that man will recover from the internet.
(Dedicated to beckygirl...Karma's a bitch, ain't it hon? Don't bother to repent, its too late for you.)
posted by Blog Antagonist @ 1:43 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home