Why Is Everyone on the Internet So Angry?

and here i always thought of you as a pleasant sort of chap

I can be a right cow at times though. sorry!

I have a slightly different spin on this. I mean aside from the obvious trolls, kids who think they're being clever, and the people who are just as mean here as they are in line at their local grocer...

The Internet represents what is essentially our last available soap box. Not too far in the distant past, the public would gather in the town square and listen to different groups, parties, religions, and so forth engage in scathing debates, filled with lies, hatred, slanders, insults and propaganda. If one wanted and had the guts - one could simply stand on the corner and start speaking. People would stop and listen.

Letters to the Editor were also such a mechanism of release. A slightly higher brow version, but essentially the same thing. Many famous people wrote such letters, some even doing a bit of old school trolling. Samuel Clemens comes to mind.

My point is, the activity and venues have always existed, just on a much smaller scale.

Fast forward to a world where the cult of self is paramount and all encompassing. A "me" based society where what I think is relevant and what you think is crap. ( Not speaking of my own views here, just making general observations ). We all think we know what we know- even when what we know is completely wrong. In our eyes it is Gospel and that's that. You know because... we know.

Add to that the magical soap box in the form of an Internet enabled digital device. No more having to walk outside, risking public ridicule and embarrassment to inform others that we know better than they do. In fact a person with a $29.99 tablet and a neighbor with unsecured WiFi has access to the magical soap box. It's risk free. Face humiliation? No problem. Simply find a new sight or create a whole new account and start all over again.

Absolutely NO accountability nor reason to even weigh risks and rewards. Consequence free talking out of ones ass is a dizzying and intoxicating proposition.

Mix that with the reality that none of us really know much of anything at all. We just happen to have paradigms and belief systems that feel good to us. They are highly personalized and custom tailored. But, since we see ourselves as "normal" it follows that our custom tailored outlooks must actually be "one size fits all" and the height of fashion. Anyone wearing anything else is just a plain idiot. Obviously.

Then take a look around the world and see the despair, fear, suffering, apathy, boredom, desperation... The lucky ones are the ones who live in perpetual fear of the debt that they've accumulated purchasing all of the "trappings of happiness" - and they are as miserable as the folks sleeping under bridges, preaching their custom tailored perceptions via that stolen WiFi and cheap tablet.

All that negativity needs to get flushed somewhere. Right? I mean it's as unhealthy as all get out and we know that the stress of it will shorten lives considerably. However dumping ones bad juju in the real world has consequences... like ostracism or getting ones face smashed against cement objects of varying shapes and sizes.

All this comes together in an almost animal way, within or psyches and we end up taking the greatest invention in the history of mankind - a means of transmitting every shred of human knowledge to ever living person on the planet - and we, instead, choose to use it as a toilet for our bad vibes. Dump and flush is synonymous with type and post.

And that is my view of the recipe for disaster. Well, unless you're discussing the Youtube comments section. That's just what happens when you let hundreds of thousands of unsupervised children get their jollies by typing no-no words.

a reply to: olaru12 yeah what is it with all the macho bravado around here. It's bordering on being childish. The Internet tough guy. I'm always a little more like

a reply to: woodwardjnr

I cry every single time. Every single time....

a reply to: woodwardjnr

Excellent reading.

There are people online who feel that they are entitled to be disrespectful. Their inflated egos don't even allow them to see how nasty and/or self righteous they are. They make life unpleasant for others. I doubt they care though ...

Using everyone is very narrow perception, obviously it's not true. Most? No. But a lot of people show anger on the webs, depends which region your on and if it has social media access.

It's not just the interNet. It's in the world. Yesterday I had back to back customers, right when I started my shift, just ignorance and rudeness for no reason.

But majority of people on my way to work, we're happy and enjoying the beautiful day.

Don't be painting everyone with the anger brush. Very narrow. .

a reply to: woodwardjnr

People see a lot of negative changes going on in society that they have no control over. They are never consulted, these changes affect them very directly, and they feel powerless over them. IMHO the internet gives them a voice to shout out their frustrations, which can transform into anger in their expression. And there are a lot of different groups of people, and different ideologies. One of the things I don't like about the internet, is that it is a polarizing agent. People tend to seek out like minded people, and in their numbers exclaim they are right and everyone else is wrong. This goes on with both the left and right. What is lost is the desire to seek out different ideas because they become so convinced they are the only ones who are right about an issue they stop having an open mind or even listening to alternate ideas. You see this play out over and over on different forums all over the internet.

originally posted by: SLAYER69
a reply to: woodwardjnr


You can't imagine the drop in blood pressure and frustration once I adopted my new online philosophical strategy*


* I don't give a rats furry butt.

What this really means is, you realized you were fighting a losing battle, and that your opinions WERE debatable, and BEATABLE.

It is all about respect. It has been since BitNet and Compuserve days. If you are truly interested in having an intelligent conversation, then you have to respect the rights of others to say what they want. Some people cannot do that for so many reasons, and it has ALWAYS been the problem.

So, the solution is something that can be learned and needs some urgency. Any APP writers out there wanna tackle that one?

originally posted by: SLAYER69
a reply to: woodwardjnr


You can't imagine the drop in blood pressure and frustration once I adopted my new online philosophical strategy*


* I don't give a rats furry butt.

I hear you on that! I decided about twenty years ago that I don't give a crap about what anyone else thinks about me. I like who I am and if someone else doesn't...I just don't care. I've got my family, a handful of friends and all, but in reality, no one else's opinion matters. What I can tell you is that life is much more pleasant, fulfilling and fun when you call it like it is, when you don't care about opinions and when you embrace being a prick. I'm the king of my own little world of me. I'm responsible for my failures and successes and I'm happy.

a reply to: woodwardjnr
Because it's easy to be angry/mad, call people names on the internet. You don't have to take the higher road when you're not face to face with your foe. Basically there's no one there to knock some sense into you.