The internet is a funny place when it comes to threats, isn't it? People threaten all kinds of things and some of them are really quite aggressive and sick but, how many would actually act on these things in real life if given the opportunity?I think that for the most part, people are living in a fantasy world.
I find internet trolls quite amusing when it comes to this also considering how many there seem to be. Where are they in the real world? Going on the frequency, where are the racists, the extremists, the cruel sadists willing to inflict pain at the slightest misstep or flaw?
What if in the real world people did actually act the same, argue the same, treat people the same as they do online, would it make the world better? If this is the way they actually feel about things, should we encourage people to show their true selves? Would you?
This is the problem I have been writing a bit about lately, online there is very little social cost for bad behaviour, behaviours that in the real world would cause the actor issues. Some people will argue that it is this anonymity that allows people to be themselves, allows them to speak freely but i don't think this is the case. People talk about being free but the problem is they do not want to take the responsibility of their actions. That is not free.
Freedom comes with costs of freedom, always. The freedom to move is always bound by the rules of cause and effect yet, people do not want to deal with the effects of what they have caused. There is an unnatural asymmetry, an imbalance, not true freedom.
Troll me in the real world, call me this and that, you are free to. I am also free to respond as I see fit. Inject the internet filter however and I am left with no avenue of appropriate response, no way to balance the scales. There is a problem here is there not?
And then, let the conspiracy in, let the authorities play their hands and what happens? They too can act without consequence and responsibility of action and they are much, much more qualified than ourselves. The governments, the social medias, the advertisers with teams upon teams of social scientists working out the best ways to grab our attention and push us to act toward the directions the indicate.
You think you are free? You think that you are not influenced by the actors in the darkness nudging your mind and your group's mind one way or another? If you think you are immune to manipulation, you are already manipulated.
Taraz
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