Fluff post
Has anyone done any psychology experiments on why people are so astoundingly mean on the internet? Yes, I know, everyone says "it's because of the anonymity". Ok sure, so I'm anonymous. Why am I a JERK too?! I simply don't understand. Perhaps it's because of my history, apparently my family situation leave me predisposed to being shy and putting other people's happiness before my own, and having a big issue with being criticized.... but I just can't imagine being a douchebag for no reason. Seriously. Check this out.
The scene: a 1 minute 27 second art film about a robot. Second comment down is:
"wtf is this shit? i literally stopped the movie 3 seconds into it. fuck this shit."
So. The same three major questions always come to my mind:
1) Why... do you feel the need to be so nasty? (ego? penis issues? anonymity? testosterone? teenage hormones?)
2) Why do you care so much that you feel you need to post about it? (ego? recognition? the hope that someone's listening even if you have zip to say?)
3) Why do people get so VIOLENT about this stuff?!
I ask the last question quite often when it comes to political discussions online - or in person actually - people get like, REALLY upset. And I'm not sure why (I tend to get nervous, but I think that's a personal issue). You tell someone you're a socialist and they get OFFENDED.... WHY ARE YOU SO OFFENDED?! It's not like it's personal or anything.
Anywho. In our case here, someone, whom I stereotypically imagine to be a 14 year old boy, gets SO upset by 3 seconds worth of video that he takes the time to type and click the send button on a comment expousing his or her spectacular rage regarding someone else's treasure.
So tell me. Is this something hidden inside all teenagers? Are people just naturally jerks when they're hiding behind a screen name? I mean really!
The scene: a 1 minute 27 second art film about a robot. Second comment down is:
"wtf is this shit? i literally stopped the movie 3 seconds into it. fuck this shit."
So. The same three major questions always come to my mind:
1) Why... do you feel the need to be so nasty? (ego? penis issues? anonymity? testosterone? teenage hormones?)
2) Why do you care so much that you feel you need to post about it? (ego? recognition? the hope that someone's listening even if you have zip to say?)
3) Why do people get so VIOLENT about this stuff?!
I ask the last question quite often when it comes to political discussions online - or in person actually - people get like, REALLY upset. And I'm not sure why (I tend to get nervous, but I think that's a personal issue). You tell someone you're a socialist and they get OFFENDED.... WHY ARE YOU SO OFFENDED?! It's not like it's personal or anything.
Anywho. In our case here, someone, whom I stereotypically imagine to be a 14 year old boy, gets SO upset by 3 seconds worth of video that he takes the time to type and click the send button on a comment expousing his or her spectacular rage regarding someone else's treasure.
So tell me. Is this something hidden inside all teenagers? Are people just naturally jerks when they're hiding behind a screen name? I mean really!
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1 Response to "Fluff post"
First, I don't think that it's fair to assume that this commenter was a 14-year old boy who strayed out of his comfort zone of MySpace and a crappy band's fansite, found himself confused and then posted a nasty comment. Crappy commenters are found in every type of media all over the internet - they're women and men and young kids copying older kids and college kids and make up just about every type of age demographic you can imagine.
I don't think the anonymity is quite why they do it. I think it's because the very nature of the Internet is to eliminate barriers between your subconscious and the "outside" world. You can indulge any fantasy you have on the internet - there's any kind of porn you could ever want to see, or anything you've ever wanted to know about anything is just a Google search away, and there are photos of places and people you'd never see in real life. Oh and don't forget all the gossipy pieces of information about your friends, family and peers on social networks. There are TONS of blogs out there (like Perez Hilton) whose entire premise is to indulge people's urge to make fun of celebrities (those more fortunate than themselves) - picking out their every little flaw and remarking snarkily about their inability to have to real relationships - they make the crappy comments FOR the people who would crappy comment on it on their own! Anything you want to do or see online is out there if you can find it.
My theory is that people are so used to just chasing their impulses through a search box or address bar that they've got no problem taking two seconds to write out what their most base reactions are to what they see. The commenter leaves his mark and moves on. I think there are very few who do it intentionally to wreak havoc (e.g. hurt someone's feelings or start a thread to get some attention). Anonymity gives the ability to behave this way without consequence, but it's not the direct reason why they do it.
Jezebel (the gawker media celebrity/fashion gossip blog with a feminist twist) has an interesting way of handling crappy commenters. Once a day they do a post that mentions a good comment and a bad comment. Good comments are usually witty remarks about the original post, bad comments are ones that detract from the discussion or are especially hateful toward the content or other commenters. Sure, it's just their commenter ID that suffers a public shaming, but it's still a way to take out the anonymity of it all. Every so often the blog will do a post where they ban the commenter IDs of repeat offenders, calling them out for their bad behavior and telling them why they're not allowed to comment anymore. Sure, nothing is stopping those people from signing up under a different id to start commenting again - but by now they will have heard the message that impulsive expressions of hatred aren't okay.
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