Friday, February 15, 2008

The Rise of Anonymous Abuse


Quote of the day:
“Do you know what condescending means?”
--Unknown

This is the political season of passion. I admit that I’ve gotten out of hand.

I don’t know exactly why I feel so strongly about my candidate in this presidential election year. But I do.

I was brought down to earth about a week ago when reading comments on the New York Times Caucus blog. Many of them were downright nasty. And that’s putting it nicely.

People were saying all kinds of insulting, rude and angry things about whichever candidate was opposing theirs. Over the years I’ve come across all kinds of flaming on the internet, of course. In this case I guess I was surprised at both the intensity of feeling and that so many participants think it’s perfectly fine to slur and malign the accomplished and ambitious people who have chosen to run for president.

This is one of the downsides of the internet. Because people can remain anonymous, and the person they’re talking about is distant from them, they give themselves permission and license to blast whoever they feel like blasting.

This is going to sound fogey-like, but my mother taught me years ago to never say something in a letter that I wouldn’t say to someone in person. And, if I was going to express my opinion in writing, to have the courage to sign it--that is, to own it. That’s why I sign this blog.

Question: why should anyone pay attention to someone who does not even own their opinions and ideas?

Usually, when folks get worked up in online forums, chat rooms or blog comments, the subject matter is pedestrian or arcane. In the audio world, for example, folks get heated about whether or not using different kinds of connection cables affects the sound of a stereo or home theatre.

But this is on a different level. To me, it goes way too far to unfairly label or grossly insult anyone who might be our president. After all, these are all essentially good and decent people. Call me old-fashioned. And proud of it.

All of this was an in-my-face reminder that, in the presidential campaign, those like me who have gotten deeply involved or invested can use some perspective. More about that tomorrow.

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