What Is It? game 215

It's not anonymous commenting that is the problem. It is inflamatory, polarizing blogging that is inflaming rage.

There are exceptions, but for the most part the tone of the comments reflect the tone of the article. An article that expresses ridicule and hate towards those who disagree with the author will get comments returning the sentiments.

I absolutely HATE Stewart!!!! That guy is the bane of all that is good and decent! I wish he would be caught in a ring with a rabid warthog with no possibility of ever escaping!!! What?...Stewart Lee? I thought it said Stewart Smalley. Nevermind.

"secrete that the web" +1 Spidey point

I doubt that much has changed; people just have a larger target at which to aim their hatred.

I also think it might have something to do with context. I know that I have inadvertently almost started flame-wars because of a comment I have made, which was not understood in the way I meant it to be. Trying to explain my point of view without the other people understanding (or understanding that the original comment might have been said in jest; again, context) only fanned the flames larger, until I felt it necessary to just drop the whole conversation. Of course, there are people out there who say inflammatory things just to watch the ensuing coniption fits. I don't believe there are more of those types of people now (born troublemakers?), they just have a larger audience.

I think we are all primed to burn whatever witches we can. Whatever poor sucker gets "pegged" by the majority. There is always one; if its not Bush, it's Palin, or "the Situation" or Trump, or... the list is endless. We love to hate, and hate to love.

The media tend to highlight the negatives (as usual), but these are greatly outweighed by the positives.

After thinking about it for a while I have come to the conclusion that the internet is probably the best thing that ever happened to humankind.

F all of you! This is cr@p! Typical (insert politcal leaning) garbage trying to kill America!!

OK. And trolls are the worst that happened to the internet. ;)

I just do not see any evidence being presented that more rage/anger/hostility actually *exists* at the present time than in any other period in history. What is simple to find, however, is evidence that it is much easier to express, disseminate, and learn about the spread and amount of this kind of hostility than in earlier, pre-mass media times. But anyone who seriously entertains this kind of theory is not very well-informed and does not know their history.

It isn't really fair to expect this, because the history of genocide, for instance, isn't taught in schools from brief, cursory mentions of events such as the Holocaust, and they are never put in any real historical context. But read historian Dr. Leon Litwack's work, for instance, if you want to know more about the unimaginable rage and hatred and violence that people are capable of inflicting on each other for no rational reason at all (*Been In the Storm So Long*, *Trouble In Mind*, *The Long Death Of Jim Crow.*)Actually, I would argue that if anything, expressing this kind of idiocy in internet posts might even keep people from the real violence they might otherwise commit.

F Neatorama!!!!!!!!!! ;)

It's the same thing with road rage. Many people have their true personalities come out when they are not held accountable for their actions.