http://college.usatoday.com/2015/08/24/banners-targeting-freshmen-women-near-old-dominion-spark-outrage/
People who write comments on articles, like The Atlantic's Crass Frat Boys at Old Dominion, have way too much time on their hands. It starts out harmless opinionated comments, but quickly turns into heated, ignorant debates. People are almost purposefully insult the other person individual tangents that have little to do with the original article.
Commenters are not afraid of insulting or being rude to the other person, after all they are anonymous. They are afraid of being wrong. They will go to exaggeration or plain lies just to avoid being wrong. However, there are still some who feel strongly about the issue and want to share their opinion with readers, so hopefully the readers will come to agree with them.
The commenters who actually had an intelligent case were the ones who gave song evidence and who did belittle those who disagreed with them. They gave personal stories and pointed out facts, like in this case, the First Amendment's right to free speech.
Then there were those who just hurled insults at each other and sounded ignorant. They had little credibility because there comments were so outrageous and exaggerated. They were just arguing to argue. They only had emotion and no concrete facts to back their assertions.
Comments do tend to persuade me one way or the other because, especially with this article, they brought up new pieces to the story. Because comments come from both sides, it is much easier to see all sides of the argument. It allows you to look at an argument from so many different sides with people of so many different views.
Do you find these banners funny or crude?
Hi Cati!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post. So much so, that it inspired me to comment myself! Personally, I believe that people tend to hide behind their comments online as a way to vent with people to hear them, whether people agree or not. They have no other outlets to talk about daily news or recent events. On one side of the coin, some of these comments can be hurtful or rude in their intent, or even just their phrasing, that can lead to harsh debates with foul language. The other side gives depth and meaning to these comments that helps generate discussion around a certain topic. Discussion and word of mouth is one of the best ways to help spread for a cause. Sometimes these debates and banter can be ultimately beneficial for the cause.
Another perspective about these angry commenters is that they only create chaos for their own entertainment. Many times there are controversial topics where there is one clear side that is right and one side that is a little more difficult to see that perspective. Some "internet trolls" tend to comment on articles and hide behind their computer as they stir up drama making other internet users angry on purpose. This type of commenting has been around for as long as the internet and articles.
I personally believe that different perspectives on different topics offers me a chance to see the other side of things that I may have missed beforehand. It just shows the bullheaded modulation of our minds. We tend to think one way and are unable to see a different perspective once we have set our minds to one side of the story.
Very nice post! I look forward to reading more in the future :)
-Quack Quackers