There’s a whole world of people out there, and boy, are they pissed off. The anonymity of the Internet encourages online ranting, from election-season tirades to mockery of celebrities.
On political blogs, the invective flies. Posters respond to the latest celebrity gossip with mockery or worse. Sports fans set up Web sites with names that begin with “fire,” hoping coaches, athletic directors and sportscasters lose their jobs.
And though there are any number of bloggers and commenters who attempt to keep their postings and responses on a civil level, all too often interactive Web sites descend into ad hominem attacks, insults and plain old name-calling…
One reason for the vitriol that emerges on the Web, experts say, is the anonymity the Internet provides. Commenters seldom use their real names, and even if they do, the chance for retaliation is slim…“A lot of times, real anger is an attempt to get control over a situation where the person doesn’t usually have it,” he said. In that respect, comments to blog posts are attempts to strike back…
“Some people are just bitter and angry,” said psychiatrist Dr. Terry Eagan, medical director of the Moonview Sanctuary in Santa Monica, California. “Sometimes, they’re against everyone, other times against a specific group. That person can get really stimulated and can say all sorts of horrible things. But I don’t think it’s not like they didn’t exist before.”
Whether the problem will get control of us, or we will get control of the problem, is in the way we face up to it, he says. Anger, he says, is rolled up with anxiety and fear, and nothing creates more fear like a lack of understanding.
Good thing we never experience anything like that around here, eh?
since this is on cnn, i gather it’s a warmup
for new laws on deck that will no longer allow
anonymous *anything* on the net..to protect some “innocent” faction no doubt..
bet that inactive processor ID number “fingerprint” embedded in CPUs that they tried to make law back in the V-Chip days might see the light of day soon..
::sigh:: makes me long for the ’70’s, before the war on became the norm..
-Wonder if BBS’s will make a comeback…i think i still have copies of my old Mustang and WWIV/Renegade (nirvananet, anyone?) BBS’s somewhere.. trying to get doors to work, pissing on fidonet…who had the best/biggest tagline file..ah the good old days..
::sigh::
-s
Buncha bloody pus nuts. I command you to all got to Google Images and search on “prolapsed Rectum” and memorize the images.
Oh yeah, the Internet was invented for venting anger, what the eatshitanddie else is it good for?
Wow. Eideard posts an article about the vitrol on the internetwebitubes and we all go down right the path to prove it…
That being said, I have congratulated my friends that supported Obama. He ran the campaign extremely well to the point it appears even Rove and Bush are impressed. Very well done.
But now the fun begins. The Dems have the WH, the Senate and the House. No there are no excuses for not advancing their agenda.
Remember the euphoria 2 years ago when they took control of Congress? Pelosi and Reid were going to tame the Republicans, impeach Bush and pull out of Iraq.
So much for accountability. People seem to have forgotten those promises (even if just inferred) though the Republicans offered little different.
The Dems took control and were successful in making the Republicans the sole owners of blame. Even though they kept spending. Even though they never sounded alarms about the health of the economy. Even though they became the largest recipients of lobbyist money from the financial firms and Freddie and Fannie.
And Pelosi statements today were to lower expectations of not so much, not so fast. Even Obama’s acceptance speech lowered expectations. He said it may take years or even another term in office to get things right (anyone print up ‘Obama/Biden 2012’ banners yet?). I bet that would not have gone over well during primaries or even earlier in the general election.
The reality is that the Dems and Repubs have learned much from each other over the past 8 years. They know the public will not react much to losing civil liberties. They know the public will accept the growth of government and power grabs following 9/11 and the financial crisis. They know they can stay in power even with approval ratings in the teens. They know they can pass bailout legislation against the wishes of the public and misrepresent how they use it.
The elite have seized control. And neither party will reverse course – only maneuver to have get more power than the other. Big government is here to stay until we get another Reagan or another ‘Contract With America’.
#33 – you rotten bastard – you got that all right.
Well said EvilPoliticians, I agree.
#25, Cow-Paddy, Ignorant Shit Talking Sociopath,
Like when the sleeper cells that were placed during the Clinton Admin hijacked some planes. The Dems blamed Bush…
You got that right. Bush was the dude in charge and ignored the warnings. Then, again, on his watch, he allowed the chief culprit to escape because he wouldn’t send enough troops in.
Yup !!! For once Cow-Paddy, Ignorant Shit Talking Sociopath is right.
Some months ago I read a study that concluded that people are nice to their friends because if they aren’t their friends will get them.
They’re right. The study determined that the average person would invest several times the energy to get pay back as what they lost.
If you don’t have to worry about getting your teeth knocked out you can call ’em any way you feel like calling ’em.
Some of it is venting or the verbal version of mooning people.
All this anonymous rants and vitriol remind me of another medium that can be just as vile: citizen’s band radio. Spend a little time around a truck stop listening to ch 19 and you begin to think this is the “End of Days”. As long as no one can identify them, really sick thoughts spew forth and you can never be sure if someone is just saying it for a reaction or if this crap is what he truly believes.
The Internet, a new medium for an being an anonymous a**hole.
“# 31 soundwash said,
on November 5th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
…-Wonder if BBS’s will make a comeback…i think i still have copies of my old Mustang and WWIV/Renegade (nirvananet, anyone?) BBS’s somewhere.. trying to get doors to work, pissing on fidonet…who had the best/biggest tagline file..ah the good old days..”
You can put legs on your newly revived BBS’s with AX.25 “packet radio” and related digital modes. Ask your amateur radio friends about it.
We used to notice this in technical support. When a customer is removed from any clue of the presence of the respondent is available, the angeer level goes up.
Personally, I don’t think it is anger at all. I think it is signifying to get above the noise and show that one is actually there.
#40 Rich said, on November 6th, 2008 at 2:04 am
“..You can put legs on your newly revived BBS’s with AX.25 “packet radio” and related digital modes. Ask your amateur radio friends about it.”
i just read some quick info AX.25, sounds like
it could be a perfect marriage for a BBS. only question for me would be how prevalent are “digipeaters” -or can everyone with a radio in effect, become one?
many thanks for the clue Rich. sounds like something i could get into.
any idea if i could use my old FCC/licensed call sign from the seventies for HAM? -does one even still need to license for HAM?
-anyway, thanks again.
-s
This site won an award for having the most idiotic commenters. See next story.
“Some people are just bitter and angry,” said psychiatrist Dr. Terry Eagan, medical director of the Moonview Sanctuary in Santa Monica, California. “Sometimes, they’re against everyone, other times against a specific group. That person can get really stimulated and can say all sorts of horrible things. But I don’t think it’s not like they didn’t exist before.”
Whether the problem will get control of us, or we will get control of the problem, is in the way we face up to it, he says. Anger, he says, is rolled up with anxiety and fear, and nothing creates more fear like a lack of understanding.
* * *
Dr. Terry, I’m getting control of the problem now that President-Elect Barack Obama is rocking and rolling. I’m a lot less abusive online, since a Hawaiian bodysurfer will be signifying in the White House soon.
I affirm freedom, truth, and harmony.
Doc Terry, I’m stuck in and stuck on Thailand, so do me a flavor and check out Patrick’s Roadhouse, Geoffrey’s, Froggy’s, Rocco’s, The Inn of the Seventh Ray, and Pat’s Topanga Grill for me.