Our Survival Depends on Interent Anonymity
As I cringe at the physical and verbal violence from our genetically programmed wild behavior, I cling to the hope that Henry David Thoreau was correct when he said, “In wildness is the preservation of the world.” He believed the natural wildness of predators like wolves eliminates the weakest and slowest members of elk herds, leaving stronger survivors to pass on their genes.
But does human wildness to humans help survivors fight better or flee faster?
My wife Karen is a fleer. She turns away and loses respect for screamers who suppress opposition because it hurts the victim.
I’ve inflicted hurt and felt it too. Six years ago I asked my 13-year-old niece what she thought of her aunt’s wedding. Karen and my sister jumped on me for being insensitive to ask that question, to put her on the spot about marriage. Other people arrived so I never responded.
When I mentioned that incident yesterday, Karen still felt terrible about it. Much as she abhors that behavior, she’d done it.
Humans crave the violence. Author Steven King admits he’s fascinated with it and millions read his work. Cage fighting, video bloodshed, talk show shouting, and town halls are popular battlegrounds.
The Internet’s anonymity unleashes our contained viciousness, which first-year college writing students taught me in a computer lab experience twelve years ago. Two liberal students anonymously mocked a politically conservative student after he commented in an online discussion. I responded saying it was inappropriate for shared writing and discussion, but the attackers ignored me and continued. He could have retaliated with verbal venom, but refused. He said he was used to the abuse at that school.
Did that violence make him stronger, or the attackers, or me, or other students? I would respond better now, like I witnessed from anonymous bloggers on the Internet recently.
A confrontation erupted when a blogger accused Obama’s ACORN organization of being un-American. A responder countered, Obama didn’t own ACORN. The exchange was on: He was its lawyer -- that doesn’t mean he owned it, just represented it. Obama gave it $8.5 million in the stimulus package -- Congress approved funds for its community programs.
The confrontation sidetracked a discussion, but readers learned while ignorance and prejudice faced facts and reason. The Internet’s unique ability to offer anonymity to wildness also grants the freedom to confront it without fear. Otherwise cruelty gains momentum into a mob psychology. The Internet gives everyone the opportunity to exercise wildness and to confront it, building skills we need for survival.
Our animal nature enabled us to survive wildness by fighting or fleeing perceived enemies. Fleeing isn’t always possible or preferable. But some fights have been violent battles or abusive verbal attacks until a victor stands. However over time we’ve strengthened society with alternatives through education, police, courts, legislation, and courtesy. And now we roam through a new environment, the Internet.
Whatever we do, let wildness run on the Internet. Wildness will run somewhere. On the Internet we can see it and confront it. And confront it we must, because our very survival depends on it.
But does human wildness to humans help survivors fight better or flee faster?
My wife Karen is a fleer. She turns away and loses respect for screamers who suppress opposition because it hurts the victim.
I’ve inflicted hurt and felt it too. Six years ago I asked my 13-year-old niece what she thought of her aunt’s wedding. Karen and my sister jumped on me for being insensitive to ask that question, to put her on the spot about marriage. Other people arrived so I never responded.
When I mentioned that incident yesterday, Karen still felt terrible about it. Much as she abhors that behavior, she’d done it.
Humans crave the violence. Author Steven King admits he’s fascinated with it and millions read his work. Cage fighting, video bloodshed, talk show shouting, and town halls are popular battlegrounds.
The Internet’s anonymity unleashes our contained viciousness, which first-year college writing students taught me in a computer lab experience twelve years ago. Two liberal students anonymously mocked a politically conservative student after he commented in an online discussion. I responded saying it was inappropriate for shared writing and discussion, but the attackers ignored me and continued. He could have retaliated with verbal venom, but refused. He said he was used to the abuse at that school.
Did that violence make him stronger, or the attackers, or me, or other students? I would respond better now, like I witnessed from anonymous bloggers on the Internet recently.
A confrontation erupted when a blogger accused Obama’s ACORN organization of being un-American. A responder countered, Obama didn’t own ACORN. The exchange was on: He was its lawyer -- that doesn’t mean he owned it, just represented it. Obama gave it $8.5 million in the stimulus package -- Congress approved funds for its community programs.
The confrontation sidetracked a discussion, but readers learned while ignorance and prejudice faced facts and reason. The Internet’s unique ability to offer anonymity to wildness also grants the freedom to confront it without fear. Otherwise cruelty gains momentum into a mob psychology. The Internet gives everyone the opportunity to exercise wildness and to confront it, building skills we need for survival.
Our animal nature enabled us to survive wildness by fighting or fleeing perceived enemies. Fleeing isn’t always possible or preferable. But some fights have been violent battles or abusive verbal attacks until a victor stands. However over time we’ve strengthened society with alternatives through education, police, courts, legislation, and courtesy. And now we roam through a new environment, the Internet.
Whatever we do, let wildness run on the Internet. Wildness will run somewhere. On the Internet we can see it and confront it. And confront it we must, because our very survival depends on it.
Posted by JSR at 9/17/2009 12:38 AM 
Categories: Dashes of compassion, Justice, Humor:satire, Community Building
Tags: violence bloodshed talk show ranting Internet Anonymity; town halls
Categories: Dashes of compassion, Justice, Humor:satire, Community Building
Tags: violence bloodshed talk show ranting Internet Anonymity; town halls
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