Support NeoGAF

[cormack12]

If we can just park politics for a second and the identity politics, one argument I see a lot of is that these people need to go outside, or need to go and experience real life. Or they say the oft suggested 'bullying needs to make a come back'.

So, not to bring anything personal in but we're well aware of people who act like deers
We're well aware of 'furries'
My little bronies
We've just seen that bizarre and horrific COVID dance: https://www.neogaf.com/threads/this-is-peak-insanity-new-covid-dancing.1571047/

So, I guess the question is why is there not the same sort of ridicule and ostracization of these people online? Don't get me wrong there is some piss taking and probably horrible things said by small minorities but generally speaking, these things are just allowed to fly with little to no hassle. Surely this is indicative of a few things

1. We are all mostly tolerant and have a live and let live philosophy
2. It's made it easier for people to find people like them and develop these extreme characterisations
3. The more it's ignored, the more it escalates in extremity and growth

Is this just another phase of the internet maturing? Do people need to be told to get a grip on reality?

 

[H4ze]

The thing is, most people are just plain stupid, low IQ, little to no education and the possibility to post anything they want online.

My wild guess, social media was a mistake and Twitter should be shut down.

 

[Mihos]

Because no one clicks on normal stuff

 

[Ballthyrm]

The attention economy.
We need to make boring more profitable.

 

[captainraincoat]

anonymity has always been the attack and the defence of the internet

It turns shy shut ins with zero social skills into toxic idiots when the solution to them feeling like shit and making everyone else miserable is to actually go outside and experience life...the good and the bad

 

[Nico_D]

To be completely honest and to agree with a previous poster, internet and social media gave voice to all people, to the great mass who is in the median of the IQ spectrum, the majority. And now that they have a voice, they have also found each other to support their thoughts and beliefs.

It has always been there, always will be. Internet just amplifies it and makes it seem like every thought correct when 10 000 people are agreeing with it.

 

[notseqi]

Not everybody on the internet is insane. But everybody insane is definitely on the internet. (Max Goldt)

 

[greyshark]

Before the internet, when some loon started spouting off to their circle of friends they were ignored and everyone moved on. Now when some loon posts something on Twitter we see a forum thread or news article about it.

 

[Punished Miku]

So, I guess the question is why is there not the same sort of ridicule and ostracization of these people online? Don't get me wrong there is some piss taking and probably horrible things said by small minorities but generally speaking, these things are just allowed to fly with little to no hassle.

I thought ridicule, ostracization, hassle, and cancel culture were all pretty much peaking at the moment so I don't really get the premise of the thread.

People are raised on the internet now, and exposed to far more, with more desensitized sensibilities - so they will keep gravitating to more extreme things. Just in the last 20 years, I went from occasionally watching a random VHS porn movie or looking at one magazine to having access to infinite free porn. Lots of people are anonymous and that also changes how people act. Lots of people have always been weird, but you never knew what 3 losers in a random town you'll never visit in your life are doing - but now you can be exposed to it on the internet and see all of it amplified. Also, people have always been stupid, but we didn't live in a surveillance state in the past where nothing can ever be erased and everything is recorded on camera, so you were exposed to a lot less. The list goes on and on; lots of reasons.

 

[synchronicity]

We've kind of reached a state where, culturally, negativity is focused upon so heavily. Everyone is bitter and angry or bitter and angry about the bitter and angry.

For me, I choose to turn my focus to what I find beautiful in life. As Joseph Campbell said, "Follow your bliss..."

It's not mandatory to dwell on misery - or the miserable. If we collectively turn our attention to what moves us in a positive, joyful way, we'd notice the collective climate change in step. In short, if you want a joyful world, be a joyful person. That's all you can do.

 

[Mr Nash]

20 years ago, when there were less people on the internet, we didn't have the hordes of morons on it that we do now. Large swathes of the place have by and large become WoW trade chat for the general population (those who have played WoW will know exactly what I'm talking about). It's a numbers game. The stupidity and insanity was always there, but it's way more visible now that so many people are on the internet. Moreover, it turns into a feedback loop as the stupidity feeds on itself and opportunists try to capitalize on the morons for their own benefit while pretending to be one of them.

Part of me wonders if this won't get better until somewhere way down the road when SpaceX, Blue Origin, et al perfect their technology, and the risk takers are willing to take a chance on leaving this rock for greener (redder?) less idiotic pastures. =\

 

[FreedomOfSpeech]

Social media (the internet) merely came too soon and too quickly.

The older generation has no idea how the internet works, it never was there.
The newer generation has no idea how the internet works, it's just always there.

The generation in between knows the old world, and the new, so it's easy to be nuanced about it.

My idea is, with the internet now everybody gets fooled into thinking their dumbass opinion is valuable, because there is always someone more stupid that will agree with you. See for example flat earthers.

If you don't know how to program, you might not understand how easy it is for every single person on earth to be presented their own little view on reality.

It's technology being used to exploit eons' old biology for profit.

 

[Tremmy]

No one ever went to Vegas and said "Wow I love how peaceful it is here". That being said, I don't think the internet is nearly as bad today as it was even a decade ago. You still see stupid shit every once in awhile, but its pretty tame in comparison to the wild west the internet used to be. There is also just a lot more people online these days and A LOT more dumbass kids.

 

[teezzy]

Human beings shouldn't be this deeply connected to one another, especially not ones so spread out across the globe.

I shouldn't be aware of what type of booty pics TaySan likes to crank it to, or how many OF subs he has running concurrently. I don't even know him. We would never meet one another IRL, yet here we stand.

We're developing empathy for far too many things at once, and are becoming overstimulated by it. It's too much to focus on.

My Twitter obsessed friends, and people I read online, will preach at me about how much I'm supposed to care about *insert sub-set of individual here*, yet quite frankly I don't know anyone who falls into that category. How much of a hoot could I ostensibly give?

People say life isn't fair. The problem is, it's incredibly fair. Too fair. It's us people that screwed it all up.

Thankfully, the average individual doesn't venture that far outside of the Facebook/Instagram/Twitter and maaaaybe Reddit bubbles.

 

[nkarafo]

Because compurers and social media are easy to use for a while now. Also, internet access and devices that can access it are dirt cheap.

 

[TindalosPup]

with the internet now everybody gets fooled into thinking their dumbass opinion is valuable

I felt this in my soul

It reminds me of those shitty relationship memes all over Facebook that people (namely women) should be ignoring, but then end up building their life around and wonder why they can't be in the kind of committed, strong relationship they're grandparents had

 

[notseqi]

I felt this in my soul

It reminds me of those shitty relationship memes all over Facebook that people (namely women) should be ignoring, but then end up building their life around and wonder why they can't be in the kind of committed, strong relationship they're grandparents had

Live Sweet Laugh Home Heart

 

[-Arcadia-]

I don’t think it’s just the internet. It’s society at large.

I really believe that normal people have to establish a reasonable standard and pressure others to stay within it. Take Gaf, past or present. Sometimes stuff slides, but stupidity is generally called out here, in a variety of ways

Humanity needs that. This live-and-let-live, everything-flies, approach is just as dumb as heavy-handed, unnecessary policing of others. There’s a sweet spot in the middle that we need to find our way back to.