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Anonymous Anger Rampant On the Web
the4thdimension writes "In a story that may bring out the 'duh' in you, CNN has a story about how anonymous anger is rampant on the Internet. Citing various reasons, it attempts to explain why sites like MyBiggestComplaint and Just Rage exist and why anger via the web seems to be everywhere. Various reasons include: anonymity, lack of rules, and lack of immediate consequences. Whatever the reason, they describe that online anger has resulted in real-life violence and suggest methods for parents and teens to cope with e-aggression and to learn to be aware of it." I can't figure out what makes me angrier: my habit of anonymously trolling web forums, or my video game playing.
FUCK YOU!
See here: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19/
Remember, there were no nuclear weapons before women were allowed to vote.
It distracts from pseudonymous anger, and that makes me mad.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
... because I can.
on a stupid crap website.
Slashdot sucks, Digg's much better :)
Summation 2
Regardless of how extreme some people respond to some parts of anger, this is a pretty positive thing. I'd rather have someone rant about something online than go out and live out the murder they wished upon someone. /stabbity
I mean, I've gone from Excellent to Bad Karma in three days of raging on slashdot, and were I not on the verge of getting kicked off, I could go on raging for three days more and go for the mystical Evil rating.
This is my sig.
Whatever the reason, they describe that online anger has resulted in real-life violence
Of course I didn't RTFA, but I have to wonder, to what extent would these people be angry about whatever they did anyway? I tend to get impatient/grumpy/angry in many situations, regardless of whether it's online or offline (in lines at the bank, stores, etc.). Yeah, it's a bit easier to vent online sometimes, in IM thread, some forums, and so on, but I've vented in public and with friends/colleagues offline for years, well before the world of 'online'.
Perhaps in a way its better than people do this online and stay away from other people in the real world to avoid physical harm to themselves and others.
creation science book
This reminds me of Lord of the Flies. The masks make the demons feel like they can act without consequence.
Personally I think it's good for our psyches to take some form of abuse as long as we have a strong coping mechanism, and a strategy to deal with it. Truth be told, flies that are the dirtiest when they are young actually live the longest. Clean flies die quickly. So what I'm saying is that rampant nerd rage is a good thing because people get stuff off their chest, and as long as people understand how to deal with internet rage, then they can actually become mentally stronger from being entangled in it. Reminds me of the Hellmouth stories too, and how that whole discussion was such a healing power for so many.
But it's sad we have to deal with such powerful demons, and that demons are so contagious.
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
Good. There is a lot to be angry about, and people have been far too sheep-like for far too long.
Here's a fitting response to this article from the fictional Howard Beale:
I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's worth; banks are going bust; shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter; punks are running wild in the street, and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it.
We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat. And we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be!
We all know things are bad -- worse than bad -- they're crazy.
It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out any more. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we're living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, "Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials, and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone."
Well, I'm not going to leave you alone.
I want you to get mad!
I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot. I don't want you to write to your Congressman, because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street.
All I know is that first, you've got to get mad.
You've gotta say, "I'm a human being, goddammit! My life has value!"
So, I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it, and stick your head out and yell,
"I'm as mad as hell,
and I'm not going to take this anymore!!"
-1 Uncomfortable Truth
Complaining about someone being anonymous to discredit them is an ad hominem attack. Hiding their identity doesn't make their argument any worse and revealing it doesn't make it any better.
Hiding their identity only make people more honest and allows their foolish beliefs to be addressed and discredited, which may not have been possible otherwise.
Combine "No Consequences" with human nature, and you'd be an idiot to expect anything different. Just wait until someone invents PFP/IP (poo flinging protocol/internet protocol), and you'll REALLY see what humans are capable of.
Whenever I get an angry work-related email I immediately get on the phone to the person. It is amazing the difference when speaking on the phone, often the person will very quickly become quite apologetic for their email when you phone them.
Yeah it's really ridiculous how some people act. I've noticed racism is a real biggie for gamers. I think most people out there mean well, but it seems that sometimes this stuff can have a snowball effect...one person says something, then another. I say try to cut it off at the source so when somebody says something really ignorant, just be like "dude that's not cool"
While I don't spend a great deal of time reading or posting in forums that have large troll populations (*cough*), I run into this all the time on Xbox Live. I would estimate that roughly 60% of the players I encounter overall are obnoxious assess, and that number gets exponentially larger for some reason when playing FPS titles. The beauty is that I can mute them all easily, at which point they essentially no longer exist. This would be a great feature for any forum as well: the ability to select users who's posts you never want to see again. This way your aggrivation level would be considerably lower on any given day. Unless you get off on that sort of thing.....
When you say something in anger in meatspace, people hold you accountable and may consider what you say as threatening, and there can be consequences, especially in the workspace. Also, people want an audience, and when they're really pissed off they want everyone to know about it. This stuff can be healthy. Of course there are other people where the anger grows inside them and they just post snide remarks and try to piss on peoples' parades and ruin people's days, these people feed their anger and become bitter. It's all about why you're doing it and if you're trying to get rid of some angry feelings and vent, or if you're festering.
Twinstiq, game news
Nice job asshole, somebody already posted that fucking link.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
I'd like to show you all anonymous anger, but then I'd decrease my chance of +ve mod points score.
Take Nobody's Word For It.
I agree. What this calls for is a really stupid and futile gesture on somebody's part.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Unless people are posting at standing desks using some kind of gestural input, I doubt that much Internet rage takes place rampant.
It's much more likely that most Internet rage takes place sejant erect .
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
WTF? Do we need to put an E (or I) in front of every-bloody-thing that might occur online? I mean really? There is no difference between 'aggression' and 'e-aggression' except for where it happens. I mean, if I get pissed off about something in the loo, is that 'P-aggression'? Or if I'm pissed at a strip club is that 'DD-aggression'?
I mean, can't you n00bs stop that crap?
Pax Vobiscum
I know most wont rtfa but my god the examples they use are hillariously bad. I was expecting whole sentences constructed out of *s+ 3 or 4 letters but no. It was talking about how celebrities had a flamewar or two online or one politician used a racial slur and surprise surprise, it got reported online.
the only decent example was the myspace girl who commited suicide, meagan.
im not sure i want to listen to a major news corp that cant even find decent examples of anon hate online. i mean jesus christ, just pick any slashdot and browse at -1!
http://greenobyl.com/ please.... think of the children!!
Most people in America are angrier than usual due to the worsening economic conditions caused by Bush's oil war which bankrupted the nation. That's what's really being reflected on the web. Bush and Cheney are basically war criminials. I'm hoping people take it their rage at the voting booths.
Oooh, mad libs!
Most people in America are sillier than usual due to the diabetes caused by Bush's evil, putrid, orphan-exploiting existence which caffeinated the nation. That's what's really being monkeyed on the web. Bush and Cheney are basically evil, putrid, orphan-exploiters. I'm hoping people take it their rage at the carnival.
But, I think my version made more sense.
DATABASE WOW WOW
As we all become more experienced with written internet communication, hopefully we'll all become more forgiving of others' expressions.
Personally, when I insult someone on the internet, I make sure there can be no doubt they realise they're being insulted. Maybe we need an HTML tag, just to make sure. If it's not present, then no insult was intended
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
Nowhere have I found more anger than in yahoo hearts.
For the most part online, I find people to be fairly polite if not a little more crude or pointed than they would be in real life. On message boards, chat rooms, even places like FARK - there are always rules and people bend the boundaries to breaking but the die-hard bigots are truly a dying breed. Then again, maybe it's just a matter of all out flame wars and such being ended by admins and such before they really get started anymore.
But even in something as simple as yahoo hearts, I have found the most bigoted, racist, discriminatory people you ever want to meet. I mean one day, the host of table playing Yahoo Graffiti was booting anyone that had a brown person icon. Or in Yahoo hearts people are quick to use the n-word and such.
However by the same token, I have never encountered racism playing Yahoo Literati. And I find it speaks volumes that people who would play a game that that is related to words and depth of vocabulary and knowledge would be the very people to be the kindest and most interesting people I've encountered online.
I wholeheartedly believe that there is direct relationship between IQ and the level of every day bigotry and racism expressed by any given individual. I believe the same co-relation between those who are rich and/or powerful as this does not necessarily relate to intelligence - or that those who are rich, powerful and intelligent use tools such as racism and bigotry to manipulate those who are none of those things.
I guess I always wonder - what truly is the point of being a bigot or racist? Oh well....more observations that really any information here.
The same goes for road rage. You would never run down the hallway at work, while on your cell phone, yelling at all the other people who are not full out sprinting. But you sure would on your way there in the morning.
The nation is not bankrupt and the crisis was caused mostly by the credit bubble, not the war, although excessive spending due to said war does contribute to the federal deficit, which in turn has a ripple effect on other things, like the value of the dollar.
Web2.0: I love when people Flickr my cuil and digg my boingboing until my google is reddit and I start to yahoo
I have found that most people will not state their opinions if they are forced to sign them. The consequences of a opinion can be far more severe than is justified from those in power. Too often those in power, abuse power. Which side you are on, does not matter, both side have a fringe that goes off the deep end. For a few examples, see Nixon, J. Edgar Hoover, College Faculty (tenure granting is power). Ben Franklin had to use a pseudo-name so he would not be arrested. Writers during the witch hunts of the McCarthy era. Women writers had to pretend to be men to get published.
Anonymous is very useful! If you use is wisely! Put forth your arguments clearly and logically. Stir the emotions only as needed. Leave the hate behind. Leave the anger behind.
Never trust a man wearing a coat and tie!
Or, in this case, the moderation.
I am a member of a number of sites that enforce a very simple, yet very firm, code of conduct. If you cannot behave like a civil human being, you are out. Period. It's not done punitively, but rather in a very calm and matter-of-fact manner.
People can say "don't feed the trolls" all they want, but it's no replacement for real moderation. In the absence of the social consequences that exist in a real, in-person social experience, something else needs to step in to help give the correcting nudge to facilitate good behavior all around.
'a';DROP TABLE users; SELECT * FROM DATA WHERE name LIKE '%'... if you're reading this, it didn't work.
Trolling and anger on the internet lead to more trolling and watching porn.
If there are people who are taking their rage offline, those people need anger management help.
For the rest of us, trolling and playing violent video games IS anger management.
They're using their grammar skills there.
The BBC Have Your Say debates are evidence that this phenomenon is not confined to angry teenagers. Those guys seem to be able to spew bile about everything in the name of honest dissent or political protest. It's actually pretty sad.
They also forced Russel Brand to resign from Radio 2, even though only 2 people actually complained about his obscene phone calls:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7694989.stm
RRRRRRRRRRAAAAAA!
Anger management makes me so mad!
Posting comments enrages me!
I'm going to go play Postal 2!
Shameless plug alert: Game server control panel
I have no idea where it's from, but this has always stuck with me:
"The internet is just a place where everyone goes to bitch about things."
Why, yes I have been touched by His noodly appendage. And I plan to sue.
The politest, friendliest, most trustworthy forum I belong to forces you to register with your real name. As it's linked to a commerce system, I imagine they can double-check it with the credit details they have on file for me. I know a lot of people would hate this, but I love it - everyone on there thinks very carefully before posting.
With all of this anger and unfocused rage, is there any doubt that we'll be entering in to a sort of "Ghost Busters II" event very soon? Could The Tubes be used to transport a River of Slime?
I guess anonymity makes doing a age demographics on anger difficult. But I wonder if rage is more prevalent for pubescent teens looking for an avenue to vent than any other group and whether they would "grow" out of it.
...can't get bad Karma.
Am I eval()? - http://www.monst3r.com.br
I've travelled all the way out here to my livingroom... And you won't believe what I've found... The Internet! Way to go CNN.
Something witty.
Online anger has resulted in real-life violence?
Most people are jerks online because it won't get them a punch in the face. 99% of the crap people say to you would never get said in person, because it'll likely result in an ass kicking. Literally 0% of the things I've been called have never been said towards me in person.
And I don't need a study to tell me that. I learned that 10 years ago when the rudest people online wouldn't even reveal their IP address - yet alone their real identity. I went from an ircx chat server to an ircd with masked ips with the same group of people and everyone all of a sudden became John Wayne.
Oooh, mad libs!
Until I read the rest of your post, I wasn't sure if you were talking about the book that you buy and fill in nouns and adverbs and such, or if you were talking about the Democrats.
While I agree with all the excuses cited for why people feel justified in acting like a D-Bag online, I have a different theory for the cause. If you've ever been fortunate enough to know a hard working person, and I mean a really hard working person, that isn't making a lot of money than you've often met a person that is strangely positive about life.
Paradoxically is seems to be the people living comfortable lives, that have time to sit around and post on websites or play lots of video games, that are the most angry. I don't believe it's the games or online anonymity that makes them angry as much as a sense of futility, or not having anything better to do with their time. People that work a lot or have productive hobbies seem a lot happier in general.
There's an interesting book, that I actually haven't read yet, called "The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse". The most interesting citation I've heard from this book is that according to studies quadriplegics have a more positive outlook on life than millionaires.
I've extrapolated this out figuring that those people that don't have time, or have better things to do, than sweat the small stuff are going to be a lot happier than those wasting their precious time on meaningless entertainment.
But, I think my version made more sense.
I don't know if it made more sense, but I think it would make a better movie.
Not to mention they're BOTH running on the "I'm not Bush" ticket.
Oh the irony.
The cost of that cleanup, of course, will be borne by taxpayers, not industry.
You can bet that IE would handle the insult tag in a completely incompatible way to the rest of the world, thus causing even more misunderstanding and rage.
Befuddlement isn't an emotion, it's a noun.
Dickhead.
I hate printers.
We've known about this for a while. Time had a cover story about it when the movie Falling Down came out. Remove the accountability for what one says and you remove the filter, getting pure ejaculations of id. And they are really mad. You know, because they have suffered so much for so long.
(%i1) factor(777353);
(%o1) 777353
I honestly think most people will be waiting for Apple to release the iAggression. I, for one, would like to see the open source freegression.
Is there a greater oxymoron in the english language than Windows Genuine Advantage?
Yes. Microsoft Works.
I for one welcome our anonymous e-angry overlords...
Some days I get the sinking feeling Orwell was an optimist.
I heard about this one with respect to road rage: You're in your car, which you psychologically treat as your personal "territory". You act more dominant when you're on your own turf. So you get a bunch of people together who are acting dominant and the sparks fly. In this case it's your computer, in your house. Not too suprising that people in general might expect more deference than they otherwise would.
-- "Oh. This guy again."
It's just shocking the dissonance between the pre-computer way business was done back then (which makes you feel like you're looking at a wholly different time period) and how it seems like absolutely NOTHING has changed since then when you listen to Howard Beale's rants.
I mean, it's the past and it's today at the same time. It's eerie in a way that no deliberate attempt at creating an anachronism could be. There truly is nothing new under the sun.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
Hopefully you saw the ironic intent in my first reply (this still leaves you plenty of room to not appreciate it...). The mix of moderation and AC replies suggests that it wasn't particularly clear to something like half of the general readership.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
IMHO, we're seeing this in the results of the recent mortgage collapse, brought on (in part) by lax accountability and a lack of consequences.
I don't know who said it, but it rings true in my ears right now: An armed society is a polite society.
The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
People had to sit still and accept any and all forms of communication coming to them via the airwaves and wires for decades. Any anger generated was vented uselessly into the air and/or kept bottled up inside. Suddenly they were given the ability to talk back to the box and have said talk back actually reach a human. The frustration of years gone by will probably continue at least as long as people who survived the suck-it-up decades exist.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
Or, another Stalin, or another Mugabe, or . . . .
. . . . You *have* read at least a little history, haven't you?
Nope; probably not. Just another "useful idiot."
Regards;
our social rules and laws and codes of contact are preventing the existing frustration and angst of modern people with the way we live these days to come out in the open in society.
instead, it lets itself out in places like internet.
it is absolutely stupid, a total moron's idea to ever think that by preventing the anger from coming out, you can do away with the issue. regardless of it being on the net, or not.
the anger is there. its there becauee modern society become too much hassle to live in. people are living distanced from other people emotionally, in all fast paced, work hard and get less lives.
what would you expect ? roses coming up everywhere ? its just natural.
Read radical news here
Various reasons include: anonymity, lack of rules, and lack of immediate consequences.
You forgot "there's just a lot of damned things to be angry about"
http://grouphug.us/
This author is totally afraid of words and probably doesn't believe in free speech. Not only is his article a bunch of uninformed ramblings, it actually proves my point. Fear of words is in fact the problem, not the words themselves. That girl didn't kill herself because of the words, but because of the fear of them. If she had been taught that words aren't important most of the time she would still be alive today. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me. I think this Todd guy is just afraid that reporters will be redundant in a few years when 100 percent of the modern world can get online and post their opinion article just like he can. This guy doesn't deserve his job and is attacking the foundation of what allows him to be a reporter in the first place, FREE SPEACH!!!
All day people have to hold things in because saying something that might be a little wrong will land you in a ton of shit.
The internet is one of the last places (for now) that you can truly express yourself and vent and the fact they have to save it up all for the net means it comes out worse than it would.
If society would quit stepping on people's freedom of speech then they wouldn't have to become so angry online.
At least they can't hurt anyone online so who really cares?
The list of assholes I need to go power tools on is so fucking long it's exhausting.
You can really make someone's day if you compliment an idea posted on the web. That might propagate to that person's relationships and help others too.
We don't respect ourselves enough to have our words carried on the 'value' of our names, and we certainly don't respect others enough to tell them plainly and clearly who is speaking against them; either practically or impractically.
Message contains 1 attachment: spam.gif
That's because you're a moron
God, I fucking hate Republicans.
Mod me down all you want, you won't silence me. We're gonna fucking destroy your party tomorrow for generations to come.
But seriosuly... Bush and Cheney ARE war criminals. They DID launch an oil war which bankrupted the nation. And Republicans ARE going to to get fucking destroyed for generations tomorrow.
Like this is a sudden new discovery??? Does no one remember alt.flame on usenet?
"Straddling the sword of technology..."
Cmon, whats a Bush and a Dick to do really, other than screw? I only hope that an old man and a hot chick wont do the same for the next 4 years.
Anything is rampant on the internet, if you look for it.
"In the absence of the ability to establish the attribute of truth they tried to establish the noble attributes."
...is populated by humans. Welcome to reality, CNN.
Stop putting your fingers in your ears. I've already voted, as I did since I voted for George McGovern, Democratic straight ticket.
Discussion, however, is pointless right now.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
That's a really good idea. Thanks!
Insanity: voting in the same two parties over and over again and expecting different results
Secretary: Part 1
Secretary: Part 2
Secretary: Part 3
Secretary: Part 4
Secretary: Part 5
Bow-ties are cool.
You see, there are those of us that believe that unless directly challenged, violence is unnecessary. Part of this is the fact that we have a problem as a species with violence that dates back to a time when it was all we had to defend ourselves and engender discipline. Civility requires we examine alternates, or we all succumb to murderous and violent tendencies.
Diplomacy in various forms can work. Appeasement isn't necessarily good diplomacy. That's what Chamberlin did before WWII, where others of my ancestry fought. Some are buried in Europe. So it goes. Then, there was a direct threat.
We ignore African violence because the caucasians in power in the US aren't of African origin, and so they don't believe they have a 'dog in that fight'. In Darfur, so many have been displaced, killed, raped, maimed, and otherwise have been victims of violence as we turned away.
We went to the Balkans, where they fight wars of their ancestors dating to 400CE. We kept ethnic Albanians from certain death, after many were slaughtered wholesale.
But we supported the deaths of millions of supposed communists in Indonesia by Suharto and broad parts of SE Asia during the 1950s. These are all facts. Look them up. None of it had to happen. None of it. Fear brings about violence.
Part of the success of the United States has been internal liberty. I defend that liberty constantly. That the US government has been the perpetrator of violence across the world doesn't seem to be easily remembered by the populace. So many wars, so little time. Most of the wars not easily remembered were at the behest of protecting almighty US business interests. Never mind that innocents were slaughtered. It was the businesses that mattered and so we floated Marines into Central America, Asia, Africa, and to a much lesser extent, the Middle East.
There are some cultures that believe that violence is perfectly acceptable in terms of a societal disciplining method. Humans are treated like animals. It's amazing the don't eat people, as the regard for their lives is small. It's been that way, and the advance of civilization requires dignifying life, and reducing violence that's otherwise incumbent.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
Perhaps all this a nonny mouse anger arises from the mile long EULAs that we are supposed to read (but don't) ((because we'd start rioting if we were forced to)).
At the end of these sublimely irritating EULA's is an "I Accept" button.
However, nobody, but nobody, clicks on an "I Accept" button thinking "I truly accept, understand and welcome these words of wisdom which in exchange for a paltry sum of money, have made my life much better".
Universally, on clicking on "I Accept" around the 'net the one silent, but LOUD thought occurs, which is, as the parent so aptly expressed, "FUCK YOU!"
Anonymous Anger Rampant On the Web
Can we please find a good synonym for rampant? The RIAA has milked that word of its last milligram of impact.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
"OT:I met a guy over on a bus stop once. He was pissed white dude over his divorce."
I met a guy at a train station once. He seemed upset that I didn't know Jesus well enough. While he was preaching to me, he kept ripping farts, so I couldn't stop cracking up on the inside long enough to ease his anger.
Buses and trains make people angry, so that is why they refer to it as the information super-highway. QED
Live with it, pal. Happened to me yesterday (modded redundant), but my knickers ain't in a knot.
Actually, that's contrary to the spirit of this discussion. Sorry, lost focus...
Fuck you too, you dip-shit AC, and go post on your slap-ass pr0n boards!
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. ~~ Hunter S. Thompson
If they have their online anonymity then how do they know it was linked to real-life violence....or is that just speculation?
When people ask if I'm an optimist, I say "I hope so". --Bill Bailey
I feel the need to disagree.
When it comes to rules demanding people remain absolutely calm and cool, I find that people in a power position tend to find ways of justifying their own opinions and ways of treating people, and when others truly take offense at something they should be offended at the peron(s) in power simply lock them out by justifying that their own moral superiority because they remained calm.
Being nice can be one thing, but to extirpate human emotion seems like a dangerous thing (can you say corporate america?) abused by those who wish to remain in power. That's been my real-world experience, less so on the internet. Just an opinion with the usual holes in it.
-
What the Fuck is E-Anger?!!!!!!
Its crap like this that makes me want to shoot people.
An SQL query goes to a bar, walks up to a table and asks, "Mind if I join you?"
The term anonymity could use a few qualifiers. Note that on slashdot you can post with your forum id or as an AC. They're both anonymous but they're very different. In a (modest) way your forum id is like a real, parallel identity and you don't like it if it gets a bad reputation - more so if the forum acts like a small community. If you ruin your id you have to start over as a new forum person, and build up credibility again. And you have a secret now too. This is not comfortable.
As an AC the social control is less, which gives you the chance to either give free rein to your nasty tendencies or voice honest thoughts that for legitimate reasons you're reluctant to be open about(a coward with something to be coward about). Or both.
I understand your venom; I feel it, too. If you haven't already voted, do it. We need to heal in the US to have respect for one another again. We were lied to, consistently. Now it's time for our own regime change, done via the process we adhere to because we believe it's to be hallowed, and venerated for its capacity to make use civil.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
Hopefully you saw the ironic intent in my first reply
I did. But now that this is over, how in general should I try to stop myself from posting the same thing that someone else posts between when I click Preview and when I clicked Post?
God, I fucking hate Republicans.
Why?
I find that people in a power position tend to find ways of justifying their own opinions and ways of treating people, and when others truly take offense at something they should be offended at the peron(s) in power simply lock them out by justifying that their own moral superiority because they remained calm.
Being offended, even on justified grounds, is never an excuse for bad behavior.
Losing one's cool online is simply never, ever, ever productive, and often turns a manageable problem into an out-of-control one.
There is plenty of room between being completely "corporate America" emotionless, and being able to control one's emotions. Most of us exist in this middle ground in our everyday "offline" life.
'a';DROP TABLE users; SELECT * FROM DATA WHERE name LIKE '%'... if you're reading this, it didn't work.