Trey Smith
One of the darker aspects of the internet is the power some people claim due to their anonymity. When an individual chooses not to use their real name -- and I realize there are legitimate reasons for doing so -- some folks become very brazen and antagonistic. They write or say things that they would NEVER say to a person's face in a million years!
Take, for example, what one fan tweeted at Steve Blake, a guard with the Los Angeles Lakers professional basketball team: "I hope your family gets murdered." This comment was made because Blake missed an important shot in a game the Lakers lost.
I bet that there are few people in the world who would walk up to another person and say that to their face. In almost ANY situation I can think of, such a statement is wholly inappropriate and mean-spirited. In this particular case, we're talking about a game -- something that shouldn't be that darn important in the overall scheme of things.
But some individual decided to write such a nasty thing anyway. It is sooo very easy to do when there will be no personal backlash because of the cloak of anonymity.
I don't know, Trey - some people use the cloak of anonymity to say things they wouldn't ordinarily say.
ReplyDeleteBut I've also known some very uncouth people in my years working in customer service (and before that growing up as a preacher's kid). If I had to break it down I'd say that:
5% of people are polite and kind in almost any scenario. They're the kind of people who unfailingly go out of their way to help strangers and friends alike.
90% of people run the gamut between these two extremes-they'll have good days and bad days. I'm somewhere in here. Most of us are.
And 5% of the people you meet are miserable human beings. They actually seem to enjoy terrorizing other people and don't notice or care that they're seriously harming others. These are the people who would walk up to someone and say something horrific like that and not understand why everyone is so upset.
I know because I'm related to one of them. :O