It really irritates me when people use the anonymity of the Internet to be as crappy as they can to others. It's a frightening reflection on us as a people if, under cover of a made-up name, we feel free to be as horrible as we want to be. What does that say about our characters? Have people really gotten so pathetic that when we strip away their public facades they're just evil little worms?
Why is that? What happened to integrity, honesty, and - above all - shame? Why have we no sense of shame anymore? I don't mean shame for deciding to show yourself off in photographs. That's a personal decision that has to do with you and you alone. I'm talking about shame for consciously doing something that will hurt someone else in some way. The expression, "Have you no shame?" seems like a cliché now but it used to mean something once. It doesn't anymore.
That's because no one seems to care about anyone else. No one seems to care about what others think. The 70's gave rise to the "Looking Out For Number 1" mentality and boy, did it catch on. People have no consideration of others or of the feelings of others if it interferes with their own needs and/or desires. It became OK to be selfish, self-centered and arrogant. We even reward this behavior with promotions, raises and or lucrative contracts. Once people found out that society as a whole didn't mind them being a jerk, they could indulge their every base desire. It started slowly - as a slippery slope often does - but with the advent of the Internet it has picked up momentum and now, more and more, creeps seem to be emerging from the woodwork.
You know. Where the vermin live.
The sad thing is that there doesn't seem to be a way of stopping it other than self-regulation. I think I'm a nice guy and I try to be the same person online as I am in real life. (Thanks to editing and proofreading, I'm slightly wittier online!) If we could all be persuaded to think of others before ourselves, what would the world be like?
I don't know about you, but I'd like to go to that place and find out.
On Hill Street Blues every time the morning briefing concluded, they left the officers with a piece of advice that is just as pertinent for whenever you surf the 'Net: Let's be careful out there.
