Internet anonymity produces hatefulness

Steve Clare / The Silhouette

When viewing any controversial Opinion piece on the Silhouette website (or any online news source), make sure to scroll down to the comments section for your daily dose of disheartening viciousness. Ideally the comments are a place to continue the conversation and expose different viewpoints. Too often though, they prove just another platform for ad hominem hatred.

The problem is the anonymous nature of the internet. Commenting on a Sil article requires one to enter a name and email address, but the name can be fake, and there’s no verification process for the email. So, there’s really no need to attach any part of your identity to your post. There are no personal repercussions for launching hurtful personal attacks.

This lack of consequence is why online comments so often devolve into vengeful pot-shots directed by anonymous assailants. If all comments had to have a real name and verified email attached to them, would we see so much casual sexism, racism, bigotry and homophobia?

Of course, the purpose of a comment can (and perhaps should) be to challenge the author of an article and act as a fact-checking or opposing viewpoint. But so often on the internet we see these accusations made in a manner that is hurtful and offensive, which only serves to build up the walls between opposing sides and actually hamper the flow of discourse between them. When did you last win an argument by resorting to shouting and name-calling?

It’s only possible to change someone’s mind by shaping your argument to their predispositions. Appeal creates impact, and it’s impossible to do that when your point is saddled with harsh accusations of inadequacy.

People work hard on their opinion pieces. You don’t spend hours crafting a history of Israel, a defense of Israeli Apartheid Week, a critique of the Catholic Church, or an examination of the media’s coverage of the Steubenville case, as many Silhouette contributors have in recent weeks, unless it’s an issue you care deeply and think often about.

In each of these cases the authors have been subject to all manner of damning accusations in the comments section beneath their piece.

Perhaps justified criticism, perhaps not. But in every case, many comments that went against the sentiment of the article were delivered in a heavy-handed manner, and often the criticizer chose to hide behind an anonymous online username.

I’d like to think that there is more keeping us from hurting each other than just fear of retribution.

I truly would like to think that we recognize, on some deeper level, that we’re all just trying to make our way through a thoroughly confusing existence as best we can, and that there’s really no need to make that journey any more difficult for someone than it needs to be.

But then I see what happens when people adopt anonymity and discover that any personal consequences resulting from their actions evaporate.

What happens is that the filters collapse, and empathy goes with them. That lends strong support for the depressing Epicurean view of morality; that the only thing keeping the streets from dissolving into anarchical hellholes of rape, murder and theft is the omnipresent fear of being caught and punished, in this life or the next.

There’s simply no need to poison one’s comments with hurtful barbs and, indeed, doing so is only counterproductive if your goal is to sway someone to your side of an argument. It’s really easy to be mean when only your computer screen is there to see it. But the next time you’re typing out a sarcastic, rude, insulting or petty response to an article you disagree with, just remember that there’s a person on the receiving end, and that they’re as likely to swap sides on this debate as you are (which is to say, not very likely at all).

If you instead shape your response to appeal to their sensibilities, you’ll create impact. That’s what changes the world - people realizing that their opponent is thinking and growing as much as they are.

Besides, if you’re not trying to change something, then why the hell are you typing anyway? Recognize that the transformation you desire will only materialize when you accept that the person you’re talking to is as infinitely layered and complex and confused and scared as you are.