Bryan W. Alaspa 1The internet and the haters
February 17th 2010 14:34
There is a strange phenomenon that the internet has brought. Of course, I can easily be accused of calling certain kettles black as I am a pot who spends a lot of time on the internet writing columns critical of various things. However, I think there is a vast difference between taking the time to write out a column for a blog or writing an article where to take the time to analyze something and then come to a critical conclusion and leaving comments of a hateful nature all over the internet.
I don’t know where this whole thing started but it was probably in the blogosphere. Now, even newspapers have places where readers can leave comments about articles. This would be fine if everyone took the time to think about their comments and then had thoughtful and meaningful discourse about the topic that was being discussed in the article. This is rarely the case.
Roger Ebert, the excellent film critic from Chicago and the Sun-Times is the exception. Since he lost his voice, somehow, his writing has gotten better and his blog has turned into must-reading for anyone interested in intelligent debate and interesting discussion about topics as diverse as religion and movies. His readers and the people who leave comments often are as insightful as Ebert himself. His, as I have mentioned, is the exception.
One of the very first articles I ever sold to an online publishers was a joking piece poking fun at the game of hockey. It was never meant to be taken seriously. I actually greatly enjoy the sport, but I have a friend who loves it so much he sometimes seems to think it should be the ONLY sport. I tend to like variety even if I don’t like a particular sport. So, really, the article was written for him, but I thought it funny enough to submit for consideration and it was published.
I have had thousands of readers since then. Many, many people have left comments. Do they take me, thoughtfully, to task about the things I wrote? Do they take apart my rather silly arguments and present alternative views? A few. However, the general consensus of most is that I am a “fag” because I do not play or like hockey. Simply taking the time to find the comments section to write “your [sic] a fag” does not present your alternative take on the article in anything approaching intelligence.
Sadly, this is what the internet hath wrought. It has given an outlet to the lonely and bitter people of the world with nothing better to do than just be mean and nasty for the sake of being mean and nasty. I had no idea how many people were filled with bile and bitterness until I started publishing online.
It does make me feel sad for many of them. Obviously they are not intelligent enough to have a blog of their own or to write an article of their own. One person actually took the time to write an whole different article where she took apart my article on hockey a piece at a time. I thought that was brilliant. That took effort and thought and it was done well. However, there are more people who can barely string sentences together just saying short, mean, unintelligent comments than there are people thoughtfully trying to present an alternative view.
Sadly, this has become the case in the world of politics and religion and throughout the world on any manner of topics. People shout and scream instead of debating and reaching compromise. It is a sad thing and I fear for the future.
I don’t know where this whole thing started but it was probably in the blogosphere. Now, even newspapers have places where readers can leave comments about articles. This would be fine if everyone took the time to think about their comments and then had thoughtful and meaningful discourse about the topic that was being discussed in the article. This is rarely the case.
Roger Ebert, the excellent film critic from Chicago and the Sun-Times is the exception. Since he lost his voice, somehow, his writing has gotten better and his blog has turned into must-reading for anyone interested in intelligent debate and interesting discussion about topics as diverse as religion and movies. His readers and the people who leave comments often are as insightful as Ebert himself. His, as I have mentioned, is the exception.
One of the very first articles I ever sold to an online publishers was a joking piece poking fun at the game of hockey. It was never meant to be taken seriously. I actually greatly enjoy the sport, but I have a friend who loves it so much he sometimes seems to think it should be the ONLY sport. I tend to like variety even if I don’t like a particular sport. So, really, the article was written for him, but I thought it funny enough to submit for consideration and it was published.
I have had thousands of readers since then. Many, many people have left comments. Do they take me, thoughtfully, to task about the things I wrote? Do they take apart my rather silly arguments and present alternative views? A few. However, the general consensus of most is that I am a “fag” because I do not play or like hockey. Simply taking the time to find the comments section to write “your [sic] a fag” does not present your alternative take on the article in anything approaching intelligence.
Sadly, this is what the internet hath wrought. It has given an outlet to the lonely and bitter people of the world with nothing better to do than just be mean and nasty for the sake of being mean and nasty. I had no idea how many people were filled with bile and bitterness until I started publishing online.
It does make me feel sad for many of them. Obviously they are not intelligent enough to have a blog of their own or to write an article of their own. One person actually took the time to write an whole different article where she took apart my article on hockey a piece at a time. I thought that was brilliant. That took effort and thought and it was done well. However, there are more people who can barely string sentences together just saying short, mean, unintelligent comments than there are people thoughtfully trying to present an alternative view.
Sadly, this has become the case in the world of politics and religion and throughout the world on any manner of topics. People shout and scream instead of debating and reaching compromise. It is a sad thing and I fear for the future.
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