has the internet made people cowards

[madgod]

has the internet created a gap that makes people say what ever they want? people seem to think that there's no consequences when it's through a screen but absolute cowards when face to face. i know the term get shit get hit was real but now anyone can talk as much shit as they want and get away with it.

 

[rebelsue]

The internet has made people mean.

I think people don't think about consequences one way or another. It's not like they are aware that there are no consequences. They just don't consider it at all. People are all hurting very very badly. Lots of people are very angry at the world. Lots of people are disappointed in themselves. They take it out on others on the internet because without the human face, it's easy to just lash out at anybody and paint them to be whatever you think they are.

 

[pete_x]

Absolutely.

 

[not-2-b-the-answer]

has the internet created a gap that makes people say what ever they want? people seem to think that there's no consequences when it's through a screen but absolute cowards when face to face. i know the term get shit get hit was real but now anyone can talk as much shit as they want and get away with it.

The internet has made people mean.

I think people don't think about consequences one way or another. It's not like they are aware that there are no consequences. They just don't consider it at all. People are all hurting very very badly. Lots of people are very angry at the world. Lots of people are disappointed in themselves. They take it out on others on the internet because without the human face, it's easy to just lash out at anybody and paint them to be whatever you think they are.

I don't know if the internet has made people mean. I think it's in our nature to be mean... especially when we can hide behind our devices without repercussion.
Now if you use your real name like on Facebook or Twitter and say some stupid shit, then it can bite you in the ass.

 

[Evermore]

I don't think the internet has made people mean , it's just now easier to be mean . I don't use social media but I have seen some of the comments on YouTube and they are just horrible !
I try and remember some people lash out because of their own insecurities but i also think some people are just cruel .

 

[Deleted member 17949]

Stupid complaint tbh. People that get physically violent over petty insults are just overly aggressive people. People are just mad because the internet takes away their ability to dominate a situation through social power or intimidation since you can just say whatever you want.

 

[omoidarui]

I can't recognise the word "coward" any more than I recognise the words "selfish" or "evil"; all these words seem to be extremely subjective to the point their application is predominantly by white knights who want to dismantle others for doing things they, themselves, personally disagree with i.e. when pro-lifers deem suicide "selfish" because of its impact on others, they fail to acknowledge the fact that others' dependency on that person staying alive can similarly be seen to be selfish; if suicide is "selfish", then so is dependency. "Selfish" is therefore not a word of any real substance, it's just the go-to word of choice by pro-lifers hoping to instil enough guilt into the suicidal that they are deterred from making such a decision for themselves that could have an undesirable impact on others.

"Coward" is the same kind of word. It has no substance. Antagonising others behind a screen is cowardly? Then so are most real-life instances of antagonisation; the only difference is the type of 'protective layer' behind which the insults and bullying is launched. So in the real world, instead of having a computer screen as protection, the antagonist's protective layer now becomes their capacity to intimidate by being bigger/louder/stronger than their victim (also relying on the victim's weakness and ease of subjugation). That's the same as the cowardice of antagonising online.

So whenever someone moans about the cowardice of so-called keyboard warriors on social media, saying "I'd like to meet these people in the flesh", their proposed method of altercation is actually just the physical equivalent of the thing they are supposedly damning. The ability to be more physically aggressive and using this to one's advantage is the same as if they had derived such an advantage from being more offensive in typed word.

Basically, the internet hasn't made people anything, "cowardice" (or its relative meaning) has already long ingrained itself into society but in different forms. The internet has only made this underlying negative aspect of typical behaviour more transparent, but this aspect already existed.

tl;dr keyboard warriors AND mouth warriors are both shit. /rant of the day

 

[madbananas]

has the internet created a gap that makes people say what ever they want? people seem to think that there's no consequences when it's through a screen but absolute cowards when face to face. i know the term get shit get hit was real but now anyone can talk as much shit as they want and get away with it.

Yup. All the little keyboard warriors and the option just to block people like their worthless. Twitter is really bad for it. And it's often a part of the reason celebrities ctb. For that reason, I no longer engage in anything like that. I was never a troll, but was a bit blind to potential effects of my 'likes', comments etc. If I don't agree with something I will now just ignore it. Because at the end of the day, no matter what someone has done (not talking about people like Hitler etc lol but you know what I mean), we have no idea what's going on in their lives behind the scenes. I always try and speak to people now (online and in person) in a way that if they were to die before I got a chance to say anything else to them, id feel proud or at least ok with myself.
what makes it worse, is when online bullying is disguised as 'justice' because someone in the public eye has done something folk generally disagree with whether intentional or accidental. To the keyboard warriors it doesn't matter. They are completely asleep to the theory that fighting fire with fire is just intensifying the damage. To be fair, it will be damaging to them as well because all they will be living with is negative energy. There is no peace with that, even if it's something they thrive off.

 

[Cosmiq]

I do think that the internet has created a gap or disconnect. It's not just because they get to say mean things without consequence though. I think it's sometimes easier to ignore or dismiss someone or what they say when you're not interacting with them in person. It's made it so it's easier to not think about how much your words might hurt someone, or how much the other person is struggling or can just tell themselves the person is faking it all becomes so easy.
I think sometimes the tone gets lost in translation, and it's even easier to misinterpret what someone has said. We can all agree it's given us more access to more people from different cultures, but we don't always recognize that. I think we're all becoming more and more desensitized. I live in a city with a huge population of homelessness, and as people have gotten used to seeing them more and more, their empathy has gone down for them.
The internet has made people more honest about things they wouldn't say in person, I mean this site exists for that very reason. Some people just abuse it, or mistake their crude behavior as honest. It's like how you meet someone who brags about how blunt they are, but really their just inconsiderate of how they communicate with others.

 

[Brick In The Wall]

Walls of text but there's a simple answer. People have always been cowards. Alot of armchair warriors on the net that would piss themselves in a real confrontation.

 

[Deleted member 1465]

In this context, the internet has provided anonymity, which allows all the nastiness and filth in a person's psyche to pour out without being moderated. It's there in all of us, that darkness and selfishness, we may hide it and some may have much less, but it's still there.

 

[Brick In The Wall]

In this context, the internet has provided anonymity, which allows all the nastiness and filth in a person's psyche to pour out without being moderated. It's there in all of us, that darkness and selfishness, we may hide it and some may have much less, but it's still there.

This is just a fancier way of saying what I've said. But I couldn't agree more. Before long they'll be pulling our internet history and sticking us in re education camps though.

 

[Deleted member 1465]

*I for one welcome out new Thought Police Overlords!*
(How do you load this thing again?)

 

[Brick In The Wall]

*I for one welcome out new Thought Police Overlords!*
(How do you load this thing again?)

Hahaha, wait what, where am I again!?

 

[madgod]

In this context, the internet has provided anonymity, which allows all the nastiness and filth in a person's psyche to pour out without being moderated. It's there in all of us, that darkness and selfishness, we may hide it and some may have much less, but it's still there.

i do like the anonymity of things. it's a comfort in a lot of ways.

 

[Deleted member 17949]

I can't recognise the word "coward" any more than I recognise the words "selfish" or "evil"; all these words seem to be extremely subjective to the point their application is predominantly by white knights who want to dismantle others for doing things they, themselves, personally disagree with i.e. when pro-lifers deem suicide "selfish" because of its impact on others, they fail to acknowledge the fact that others' dependency on that person staying alive can similarly be seen to be selfish; if suicide is "selfish", then so is dependency. "Selfish" is therefore not a word of any real substance, it's just the go-to word of choice by pro-lifers hoping to instil enough guilt into the suicidal that they are deterred from making such a decision for themselves that could have an undesirable impact on others.

"Coward" is the same kind of word. It has no substance. Antagonising others behind a screen is cowardly? Then so are most real-life instances of antagonisation; the only difference is the type of 'protective layer' behind which the insults and bullying is launched. So in the real world, instead of having a computer screen as protection, the antagonist's protective layer now becomes their capacity to intimidate by being bigger/louder/stronger than their victim (also relying on the victim's weakness and ease of subjugation). That's the same as the cowardice of antagonising online.

So whenever someone moans about the cowardice of so-called keyboard warriors on social media, saying "I'd like to meet these people in the flesh", their proposed method of altercation is actually just the physical equivalent of the thing they are supposedly damning. The ability to be more physically aggressive and using this to one's advantage is the same as if they had derived such an advantage from being more offensive in typed word.

Basically, the internet hasn't made people anything, "cowardice" (or its relative meaning) has already long ingrained itself into society but in different forms. The internet has only made this underlying negative aspect of typical behaviour more transparent, but this aspect already existed.

tl;dr keyboard warriors AND mouth warriors are both shit. /rant of the day

Agreed, calling someone a coward because they are 'hiding behind a screen' is just another way of saying 'I don't like this person's argument but don't have much to say so I wish I could just punch them.' It's also an ego defense mechanism; people assume that anyone that argues with them online is some scrawny weak loser, and by thinking that they could intimidate them they maintain a feeling of superiority. The internet never made anyone cowards, it just took away the ability of violent people to just beat others when they disagreed with them.

That said, outright trolling is not fair and shouldn't be justified. If someone is just insulting you and for no good reason they are just rude.

 

[FusRohDracarys]

People were brawling over toilet paper in the stores a month ago. People are just wretched in general, whether it be virtually or face to face. Except if you have a rowdy confrontation IRL, you're probably going to get the cops called and risk a lawsuit or jail time or some other punitive measure. No such thing on the web, or at least far more unlikely. Call it cowardice, but it's honestly the "smarter" way of harassing people.

 

[madbananas]

People were brawling over toilet paper in the stores a month ago. People are just wretched in general, whether it be virtually or face to face. Except if you have a rowdy confrontation IRL, you're probably going to get the cops called and risk a lawsuit or jail time or some other punitive measure. No such thing on the web, or at least far more unlikely. Call it cowardice, but it's honestly the "smarter" way of harassing people.

The internet literally gives the posh snobs an outlet for their bullying tendencies.

 

[FireFox]

I am 23 years old here is what i think

My family and various older people say the world has gotten worse and when they were kids it was never bad. They blame the internet

I say i disagree and they look at me if i was crazy

The world was always horrible the problem was people espically the older generation were never aware how awful it was. They lived in a bubble i believe.

The internent has exposed how fake , shallow and cruel society really is. The internet shows us the darker side of our world which people dont want to acknowledge.

- The internet has helped expose corruption within goverments . Wikileaks is a great example and various whistleblowing blogs

-social media shows us day to day institutional racism by the police in which the boardcast media does not .

The internet also shows how human beings can act as spectators in crulety

Social media people engaging in online bullying, vile comments people make when discussing politics the UK election twitter is an example .

The internet for me is an exposer of how dark our world really is and how people are not always what we think they are

 

[Aonewayticketplease]

I wouldn't say that that there are more cowards now than there were in the past. Anonymity, however, has emboldened cowards to say things that they would not otherwise say if their identity was known and they could be challenged to a duel.

 

[madgod]

I am 23 years old here is what i think

My family and various older people say the world has gotten worse and when they were kids it was never bad. They blame the internet

I say i disagree and they look at me if i was crazy

The world was always horrible the problem was people espically the older generation were never aware how awful it was. They lived in a bubble i believe.

The internent has exposed how fake , shallow and cruel society really is. The internet shows us the darker side of our world which people dont want to acknowledge.

- The internet has helped expose corruption within goverments . Wikileaks is a great example and various whistleblowing blogs

-social media shows us day to day institutional racism by the police in which the boardcast media does not .

The internet also shows how human beings can act as spectators in crulety

Social media people engaging in online bullying, vile comments people make when discussing politics the UK election twitter is an example .

The internet for me is an exposer of how dark our world really is and how people are not always what we think they are

i really respect this response. this is what i meant when i said cowards, it's a harsh word but i think this is what i meant. thank you for the reply