The Internet can only be what people make it. It has no goals or motives.
Yes, we are that bad, and we’ve been MUCH worse prior to the creation of the Internet.
The moment journalists started just reporting social media posts as news was the downfall. The internet has never reflected reality but journalists being lazy or news corps being greedy spent years convincing everyone that it was.
It’s been going on a long time. Penny Arcade coined the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory in 2004.
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I think it’s a lack of consequences. If you stood in your town center and said something dumb, people would call you out and shame you for it. It would change your reputation too, at least for a while. If it was really that off the rails you could get arrested or beat up, and you may never want to show your face there again.
Having a global communication system is amazing. Some guy I never met can show me how to fix my house or see things from a different point of view.
BUT there are way more people that are willing to say something dumb, not only in their local chats and posts, but everyone else’s. There can be public ridicule, but there is little chance that someone will find you and kick your ass. Not only that there isn’t really a way for victims to walk away either, which makes cyberbullying so unrelenting.
People want to go to the town square (or internet forum) to present their case, but they refuse to engage in challenging their own position to improve it or change it.
There seems to be an emotional connection to opinions, that result in people ignoring or deflecting from direct evidence that challenges it.
But why aren’t we like our forefather’s both of them. The founders of a country and the founders of new tech? Would it really be that bad if the net got together and built something in the real world besides doing everything for money or likes or upvotes or karma? I am from the DOS days and dialup so I may be biased, but it’s almost like we forgot stuff the can be tangible, can be held, and loved…now we get enjoyment out of harassing others or putting them down but in the real world they would never do it in the middle of a wal-mart or in school or college…is there even a saving grace for the net besides porn?
