Tag: Internet

On the Topic of #Hejty

The internet is a wondrous thing. Not only has it completely transformed communication but it has managed to shrink geographical proximity to irrelevance. Alas, like all good things it doesn’t come without a health warning.  It takes the human mind approximately 7 seconds to make a judgement or a decision and a further 11.7 seconds to write something unpleasant or abusive.

The strangest thing is that many people feel as if the anonymity offered by the Internet protects them from the human rules that govern our interactions. It doesn’t. All a predilection to attacking people online under the cover of anonymity proves is that you, in fact, are a massive arse.

The fact is that science has proven that it takes a great deal more time to write something unpleasant than to make a judgement based on information. This means that the unpleasant vitriol spewed by many online has nothing to do with human emotion and everything to do with callousness.

There are some things in life that are deserving of our wrath.  Not the person whose perspective or sexuality differs from yours. Nor the person that looks differently.  But for those actions that cause misery and suffering for the assorted creatures that are stuck on our floating rock.

Political Incorrectness

The world has changed immeasurably in the last 100 years.  The most notable being the way in which we communicate with each other.  Gone are the days when human beings actually spoke to one another.  Instead we text, email, tweet, like, poke, +1 and comment.  It’s hard for me to believe that there was no internet or mobile phones when I was born.

The downside of the growth of communicative means is that we have created a number of platforms for people to use without relevant instruction.  Many people choose to use these arenas to voice their views on all manner of topics, this way they can feel like they have done their bit.

30 years ago the disenfranchised youth would have meetings and organise protests or demonstrations.  Nowadays they post links to articles on the Guardian and then sit back sipping their moccacino latte’s feeling as if they have contributed to the cause even though they are not sure what exactly the cause entails.

The Politinetico’s are a shining beacon of exactly what is wrong with our generation.  These are the very same creatures who spend a great deal of time moderating their friends  comments to ensure their digital souls are sanitised all the while not actually being capable of explaining why their point is correct instead only vocalising their shock and horror at the fact that someone else can hold an opinion which is contrary to their own.

A great example of  the nauseous stupidity which the internet frequently unleashes is the Ricky Gervais mong gate scandal.  Recently he posted a picture of Karl Pilkington on Twitter and described him as a mong.  Politinetico’s quickly berated him for using an offensive word claiming that he was mocking Downes syndromes and later for reposting a picture of him making a ‘mong’ face.  I honestly wonder what these people did at primary school.  Whilst the rest of us were out in the playgrounds enjoying life, they clearly locked themselves in the library with their frappes and debated the futility of existence.  When I was kid we would use ‘mong’ as a substitute for idiot, never for an attempted medical diagnosis.  Since the advent of the digital camera people all over the world have been taking stupid pictures of themselves for fun.  Fun is the operative word here as it appears that Politinetico’s have got forgotten exactly what that means.

In the early days of the internet people would sign up to forums in order to engage like-minded people in lively debates about subjects which they are passionate about.  The invention of social media means that people no longer need forums.  They can attack anyone from their righteous pedestal without the concern that their victim may be banal enough to engage them in debate.  Nor do they want a debate as in the vast majority of cases they are unable to clearly explain their reasoning.  What they do want is to draw attention to themselves as moral crusaders, as any failure to take the high ground deflates their ego’s to such an extent that their reflections disappear and their arse cracks heal up.  Mongs.