I haven't written for quite a while, at least anything
finished for publication, but I am working on a series of trips Pam and I have
been on centered mostly around our love of walking/hiking. Those should start soon. In the meantime, I will risk
"preaching" a little about an issue that affects us all and truly
bothers me: online rudeness. I know this
isn't a world shaking problem, but I tend to view pieces as part of some greater
whole. Rudeness in any area is
unacceptable, and worse, it's counterproductive. If you wish to make a point by ridiculing or
even threatening someone, the "discussion" will quickly become a
fight rather than an opportunity to share different points of view. However, the deeper problem I see from such
internet communication, usually on special interest bulletin boards, is that
people become emboldened by the supportive comments they receive from like
thinkers and further convince themselves of the "rightness" of their
cause/belief/desire.
In junior high school (maybe before), I learned I couldn't
say just anything to just anybody because some of them would be too hurt or
some would make me too hurt! "Say
that to my face" was a common dare if you heard that someone was trashing
you behind your back. And, sadly, people
did then and continue to talk behind folk's backs because we almost always get
an appreciative audience. The internet
has made all of us "public speakers."
We all have an audience with just a few typed lines, and the larger
audiences seem to collect around the rudest, most abusive posters. Just like the local tv news centers on
negative actions in our communities and the loudest, most extreme politicians
get prime time coverage, rudeness seems to pay.
What does it tell us when national news broadcasts need a special
"finally" segment about some positive deed/doer? I fear all slippery slopes, and blasting
folks from the safety of a keyboard in our homes is very slippery! I end this "sermon" with a saying I
try to live by:
Anonymity should never replace the need for civility.
With respect,
Rick
