The electronic mob mentality

http://www.flathatnews.com/opinions/2071/the-electronic-mob-mentality

This week, Kentucky Representative Tim Couch proposed to ban anonymous internet posting. It’s an illogical pitch, all but guaranteed to fail — even Couch acknowledges that his law would be next-to-impossible to enforce. Despite his draconian proposal, though, I have to admire Couch’s spirit.

Since Web 2.0 and the ascendancy of the blogosphere, anonymous internet discourse has run amok and then some. Need proof? Look no further than The Flat Hat’s website, where, at this moment, alumni, students, faculty and strangers are trolling the comments section, lobbing ad hominem attacks and taking nonsensical tangents wherever possible.

The notion of reasoned electronic dialogue has lost all efficacy. Detached from reality, unattributed and untraceable, these excoriating commenters encourage the grisliest side of human nature. They are out for virtual blood....

Or so I heard from the secopnd place finisher.

There's nothing too ghastly about the discourse on this site.

I've seen better.

I ignore the worst.

The idiotic flamefests that infest the Internet are characteristic of anonymous behavior, when people believe they can't be held accountable for their actions. Happens in other areas of human interactions, too.

Now, however, most people understand that most of this stuff is idiotic, and don't take it too seriously.

This is really reminiscent of the early days of the American press, when all papers were highly partisan, and it was left to the viewer to decipher the truth between them. Modern media is more and more like this, too.