Thinking in vain...

I've read this story at 3 of the blogs I read (Fred's, Seth Godin's Blog, and gapingvoid). I have no real connection to the people or the blogs/sites involved. But it only cements my belief that people just aren't nice anymore.

First off and possibly random, I've never understood the motivation behind trolls on message boards, blogs or any other public forum. 99% of the time they don't know the person they're attacking personally – so if they don't like it, why do they continue to read it?

Secondly, the issue of anonymity reminds me of my high school band director. He couldn't stand anonymous suggestions, which were more often than not criticisms. Parents would contact the school about something he'd done, but ask to have their name withheld. He called them cowards. Cowards couldn't take ownership of their opinions and he therefore would not listen to them.

I think that principle holds true whether you're on the internet or not.

Of course, remaining anonymous isn't always bad - but it does tend to the cowardly side when all your using it for is criticism of another person.

Also, you can't be creative and/or intelligent to say mean things about a person. My great-grandfather had a saying, "it's a sign of a lack of intelligence when the only way you can express yourself is through profanity."

Of course cursing is much more accepted than it was in 1940 when he said that, but I think it translates to more than just cursing.

Everyone (a large generalization, I know) seems to not respect anyone anymore. I saw a clip of a woman coming out of left field and tearing into Jimmy Carter on C-Span. She wasn't disagreeing with policy, she was personally insulting him. I'm not giving my opinion either way on Jimmy Carter, but I don't think anyone deserves that.

I saw a segment debating that exact clip later and the guy defending the woman said we had the right to say whatever we wanted, however we wanted. But wouldn't a intelligent, respectful person disagree in a different way?

I dunno, maybe it's because I live in a small town and I've been handed down a romanticized notion of Southern hospitality and politeness. Who knows. But I still see the rudeness and lack of respect here.

Too much thinking for one night – now I'll return to the regular stuff.