Loathing, Catch 22, or How the Internet Makes Us Evil

I think the internet makes people evil.

The internet addicts people to a certain sort of conflict. Humans are often allergic to the same things they are addicted to.

With the vastness of the internet and the number of conflict junkies online, even people who try to steer clear of drama will get pulled in.

A lot of the people, who are the most unpleasant online, do it under fake identities. But if you speak up to one of these phonies, then their real life alterego can develope a complex about you. And you won’t know.

Eventually, the sense that unseen foes wish you ill will cause you to be less sociable in real life. Raise your hands if you are more freaked out about real life interaction since you started spending time online. Thought so.

But, in real life, no one would walk up to stranger and tell them that they are ugly and shabbily dressed. Anyone who did would be considered a lunatic.

On the internet, people seem to genuinely feel like it is okay and even appropriate to try to make other people feel bad about what they look like.

In real life, if you walked up to someone who you could hear talking about you and politely mentioned that the facts were different from what they were presenting, they would not spew invective uninterrupted for ten minutes.

On the internet, people deliberately say rude things in public forums about those more famous and successful than they are in the hopes of getting to have an interaction.

In real life, people with nothing going on in their lives are not the ones most likely to dominate conversation.

On the internet, businesses feel like they do not even need to explain their actions or fees; form letters rule interaction.

On the internet, people treat the personal touch as a sign of lack of success.

Which brings me to the way the internet is a constant Catch 22 i.e. if you are accessible, then people discount your accomplishments, but, if you have trained monkeys/interns answer your email, then people feel you are fake somehow, and, if you don’t pay enough attention to some people, they make it their life’s mission to be irritating.

If you are beautiful, strangers will assault their fabricated perceptions of your morals online. If you are ugly, strangers will hold you up for ridicule by a cast of thousands.

In the real world, people who are all talk don’t get press coverage. On the internet, people who brag more than they work tend to get more positive reinforcement than people who actually do something. I get more newsletters from people claiming they are about to make an announcement than I get actual announcements.

I’ve set my life up so that it more and more revolves around the internet. Hell, if I feel pensive, I jot my not-ready-for-primetime thoughts down in my journal. Maybe I’m doomed. 🙂