I've taken to idly looking at Facebook these days. Relatives and a friend or two (an old college classmate for one) post the occasional thing of interest.
So tonight I was looking at my profile and wondering what exactly it was saying. Was it saying I was "looking for a relationship"? Is that what it was saying?
I quickly went into the program and clicked on "Married," which then showed up on my profile.
Hmmmm. Maybe I didn't understand what I was seeing, but it made me suspicious. Could somebody mess with my profile??
Then I saw that you can connect to people who do the same thing you do for a living. So there was the name of some guy, from New Jersey as it turned out, with the word "writer." So idly I clicked on it and started glancing at what was going on in this guy's brain, which turned out to be the the foulest, most disgusting and intimate stuff.
My question: what is wrong with people nowadays? Is something like that supposed to mean a person is truly liberated? Does that make them feel they are making a contribution to the world, "making a difference?"
Are they sick? Evil? Stupid?
I also had a revelation on the Politico website one day (a columnist I read opined that it now has as much influence as the New York Times in shaping political debate). What saddened me was the nature of the comments after articles. The articles themselves seemed top notch--old fashioned reporting and commentary, with maybe a left of center slant. But the comments! Again, the majority of respondents were insulting, inflammatory, angry, bitter, mean, crude, and/or ignorant.
And again, I ask, "What is it with people today?"
I know, I sound like some old granddad breaking up the keg party. ("Tarnation! What's becomin' of the younger generation?!")
But there really is something sick going on in the culture. As we all know, it started in the 1960's when the rules and propriety and tradition got trashed and people got spontaneous and creative and psychedelic. The ironic thing is, the whole hippie thing was about "love," and hippies were known for their gentleness and peacefulness. ("Peace and love, baby!")
But where has the revolution, sexual and otherwise, taken us as a society? To be precise, to hell. At least we're on the way.
It's one thing to like a bit of "edginess" in humor and not being stiff and formal all the time. Christian author C. S. Lewis and his drinking buddies could be a bit bawdy, for example.
It's another to just be a great big, boring, self-absorbed, adolescent/adult pig of a human and think that because you've thrown off all restraint that somehow you are on the cutting edge of creative expression.
So tonight I was looking at my profile and wondering what exactly it was saying. Was it saying I was "looking for a relationship"? Is that what it was saying?
I quickly went into the program and clicked on "Married," which then showed up on my profile.
Hmmmm. Maybe I didn't understand what I was seeing, but it made me suspicious. Could somebody mess with my profile??
Then I saw that you can connect to people who do the same thing you do for a living. So there was the name of some guy, from New Jersey as it turned out, with the word "writer." So idly I clicked on it and started glancing at what was going on in this guy's brain, which turned out to be the the foulest, most disgusting and intimate stuff.
My question: what is wrong with people nowadays? Is something like that supposed to mean a person is truly liberated? Does that make them feel they are making a contribution to the world, "making a difference?"
Are they sick? Evil? Stupid?
I also had a revelation on the Politico website one day (a columnist I read opined that it now has as much influence as the New York Times in shaping political debate). What saddened me was the nature of the comments after articles. The articles themselves seemed top notch--old fashioned reporting and commentary, with maybe a left of center slant. But the comments! Again, the majority of respondents were insulting, inflammatory, angry, bitter, mean, crude, and/or ignorant.
And again, I ask, "What is it with people today?"
I know, I sound like some old granddad breaking up the keg party. ("Tarnation! What's becomin' of the younger generation?!")
But there really is something sick going on in the culture. As we all know, it started in the 1960's when the rules and propriety and tradition got trashed and people got spontaneous and creative and psychedelic. The ironic thing is, the whole hippie thing was about "love," and hippies were known for their gentleness and peacefulness. ("Peace and love, baby!")
But where has the revolution, sexual and otherwise, taken us as a society? To be precise, to hell. At least we're on the way.
It's one thing to like a bit of "edginess" in humor and not being stiff and formal all the time. Christian author C. S. Lewis and his drinking buddies could be a bit bawdy, for example.
It's another to just be a great big, boring, self-absorbed, adolescent/adult pig of a human and think that because you've thrown off all restraint that somehow you are on the cutting edge of creative expression.
posted by Ted | 9:01 PM
2 Comments:
Yeah, y'know, I saw that "looking for a relationship" thing and immediately thought, "Uhh... he might wanna get rid of that." :) Just go to your profile and edit it out. You can have nothing, even, if you'd like (that's what I did! Obviously, I'm there to connect with people if I'm on the site to begin with. Don't care 'bout anything else.)
As far as peoples comments on articles, blogs, forums, etc, you can thank "internet anonymity" for that one. When comments have little chance of getting traced back to the person who made them, people feel much "free-er" in their speech, and say lots of things they would never say in person, whether in a "letter to the editor" or even around the water cooler. The amount of disrespect for others when online is despicable, but unfortunately, that's the nature of the beast.
Heck, people even do/say stupid stuff when it CAN be traced back to them (funny example: some guy posted a naughty ad on Craigslist, posing as a girl looking for a "raunchy time". He got tons of emails, including one from a Microsoft employee, who used his work email address, and even included graphic photos of himself AT WORK! Yeah, he lost his job [and probably wife/family/friends/etc... who knows...] but seriously... did he really think that was a smart thing to do??? Anyways...)
Yup, I'm always careful what I post in the message boards, because there are just too many bullies out there, ready to tear ya apart for just being honest. It's tough to communicate tone and emotion, even though emoticons, but boy is it obvious when someone wants to ring you out and leave ya to dry... I've left many a forum/email list because I was disgusted with the way everyone treated each other. And it's not just the "younger generation". They may be the ones who are quick to say, "You're such an f---in' idiot!" (minus correct grammar) but the supposed more "mature" folks can be pretty condescending, too. Again, it's easy to be that way when it's not really "you" who's saying it.
Welcome to the world today... :)
I know what you're saying. Anonymity will do that inasmuch as it requires not a shred of courage. A little like setting off a bomb by remote control in a crowded market. What amazed me was that the writer I was describing had his name and picture on Facebook associated with descriptions of certain of his anatomical characteristics, if you get my drift. If he has any ambition of running for president one day, he might want to consider deleting those items.
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