Thursday, October 18, 2012

I WISH I WAS DAVID THORNE



Today I got a crash course in the not-too-subtle art of "trolling".

"Trolling", or as I am led to believe "trawling" is when bored nerds gang up on someone that was stupid enough to post something ill advised on Faeceboobs, thereby vilifying the sanctity of the intrawebnets.

The case in point - that got me out of my usual lethargic approach to just about everything, was some little pillock who made a perceptibly racist remark which included a reference to rape - a violent crime which is as unforgivable as it is lamentably prevalent. His comment showed an amazing lack of sensitivity and was downright offensive. As so many people pointed out - not speaking out against such filth is tantamount to condoning it. A small amount of people with nothing better to do also pointed out that nothing is ever solved within the confines of social networking.

What it did highlight for me was the tremendous power words can have - either to cause hurt or offence - or in an outraged response to something quite revolting. There is also a clear chasm in the level of education out there. This is mainly between old people like myself, who are familiar with the alphabet as an entity not only found on a cellphone buttons, and ag, let's call them "born frees". The discrepancy is not limited to age however, as some of my rather younger friends can read and write quite well and some of the older ones seem to have fallen into the sms-speak trap. The problem with "born frees" is that they think it means "free" to spew forth the kind of distasteful rubbish we had to put up with today. And then have the nerve only a teenage could have to defend it - in themselves and in others.

The other thing I learned about "trolling" today was that it gets old very quickly. Mainly because - as is usually the case - when 2 opposing philosophies go head on there is rarely a satisfactory conclusion. That, and the comments start getting stupid and the memes start flowing.

A wise friend of mine said that the problem with social networking is that it provides a platform from which people can feed their own sense of self importance. I immediately challenged him because I do NOT restrict myself to only social networking, but he has a very good point. As does another good friend of mine that pointed out that - whilst today's spitting response to one form of prejudice was unanimous and without mercy, not too long ago another form of prejudice was allowed to strut around, balls out, without so much as a raised eyebrow.
And in yet another debate, I declined to reply in a thread as I felt that it wasn't worth my time having to back up yet another attack on someone's poor grammar - the scourge of today's linguistic state of affairs.

All in all it's been fantastically entertaining. To a point. I shall henceforth refrain from involving myself in wordy battles online. Mainly because my words are superior to yours and it would be an unfair contest. The pen being mightier than the sword however, I will not rest until I have stolen all your pens. Someone needs to update that saying. The correct use of a computer keyboard is mightier than the sword? Doesn't have the same ring to it, does it?

What I have really learned from all this today (in my best Southpark voice) is that the online community is nothing more than a reflection of society in real life. My experiment (read "lazy day at work") has led me to the conclusion that no matter if they're prancing around on the street or hiding behind their keyboards, humanity is by and large a fuck up on a swift downward spiral and is ensuring its own eradication. With any luck I will still be allowed to live out my last few years in peace and an unlimited supply of beer. Perhaps the answer is to actually live your life, rather than waiting for prompts to do so from a cyber community. Personally I'm here for the pretty pictures.

Anyway, it is my sincere wish that every single one of you can exist in a world without bigotry or strife. Or that people will grow out of their narrow minded views and learn to embrace differences among one another. I am not a bleeding heart hippie, but I do know that it has to start somewhere. Maybe start by being nice to one person. Let someone in front of you in traffic on your way home. And don't kak yourself if they don't fuse their hazards in abject gratitude. Do it because you want to.

Also, today marks the day that the world was blessed with the presence that would eventually transmogrify into the Meyer Of Awesomeville. Happy birthday! Another year older, another year better. Who would even have thought improvement was possible? Yet, here we are! Have a great one, mate.

NGDG: "If you can keep your head while all around you others are losing theirs, you'll be a man, my son." Imagine the royalties if Kipling WAS your dad. You could afford to lose your shit too.

Spread The Love. Not The Bullshit.

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