Slashdot Mirror
Colleges Struggling With the Digital Bathroom Wall
theodp writes "Back in the day, anonymous character assassination was confined to permanent marker scrawl in bathroom stalls. But now, thanks to sites like the student-run CollegeACB.com (ACB=Anonymous Confession Board), which can get hundreds of thousands of hits on a good day, TIME reports that anonymous slander is going viral on campus. Even the most elite universities — normally the land of the politically correct — have been struggling with the problem of anonymous gossip sites and their very un-PC posts, which an Amherst dean likens to 'the worst of junior high.' If he thinks things are bad now, wait until the kids start getting creative with Google Sidewiki."
Natural selection would mean that it would be ok for me to beat you to death.
Macho Answer: Try it and you'll meet my little friend.
On-topic Answer: Your example is a strawman. Beating someone to death != insulting them
However in civilized nations we create rules that the majority of people believe are for the greater good.
The majority of the people can not infringe on our inalienable rights. One of those is the right to free speech. I don't recall one of them being the right not to be offended. Perhaps I missed that part of the Magna Carta/US Declaration of Indepencence/US Bill of Rights/Federalist papers/Universal Declaration of Human Rights? Could you point it out to me?
These rules general serve to protect those those that need protecting.
No law you can pass is going to protect someone who is so weak kneed that they can't handle verbal/written insults.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.