Net Negativity

A lot has happened in recent weeks, and foremost among them was the blatant doctor-shaming by an infamous media personality who in my eyes has devolved from a supposed protector of the oppressed to just a plain old mean-spirited bully who pushes people around just to get what he wants. Seeing as all this negativity has had a substantial impact on my general mood as of late, I shall not be dwelling on that much-publicized incident here.

AS you can see, there have been so many ups and downs as of late. The internet has now turned into a hotbed of hostility and negativity which is spread far and wide through the (mis)utilization of social media. Foremost among these sites are Twitter and Facebook. The supposed freedom and anonymity of the internet has turned people into such jerks and assholes that it sickens me.. Then you have all these fake accounts pushing a particular agenda or orchestrating demolition jobs on individuals. Then there is also the abudance of fake news being circulated by uscrupulous individuals who are often in the payroll of one moneyed faction or another. It's just so sad... I guess this is human freedom at it's very worst..It is impossible to tightly control the entire internet, although I think China has been doing a helluva job with its own Great Firewall.

I just want to comment of this foul nature of humans, particularly the aspect that we manifest when we are behind the anonymity of the computer. Free access to the internet has led to an exlosion of apathetic individuals prowling online doing hurtful things just for the hell of it. Basic decency appears to have taken a backseat (or even no seat at all) for these people. It is sad that such a wonderful tool like the web is used merely to spread hatred and evil instead of fully utilizing its potential to help  better the lives of everyone though the sharing of knowledge and the ability to connect earnestly with people who are far away. I guess it bolis downto education, and I'm not talking about those fancy degrees here. What I am highlighting is the "manners education" that a person should receive as a child, the basic rules of decency and good moral conduct that would ideally be ingrained in every individual from a young age. I look across the internet now and see a general lack of empathy with others. I mean, you don't have to cry and sympathize with every sob story that you hear, but at least you could be decent enough not to act like a dick and make fun of those aggrieved.

I have observed that the supposed "nice people" on the internet are often drawn out to become angry lunatics because they tend to have very emotional responses that the so-called "trolls" are skilled at eliciting. This used to be the domain of the crazy obsessed fan, the nutty conspiracy theorist, or the blindly loyal staunch political supporter, but has now taken a more sinister undertone as the trolls are now for hire. This makes them much more dangerous since they are able to focus their attacks on anyone or anything going against their agenda (as opposed to individual nutjobs who people don't take seriously at all).

I guees that's enough about the negativity epidemic. I didn't want to get anybody down, but I just needed to have some catharsis from this rough couple of weeks..