There’s a thoughtful piece by Andrew Brown over at the Guardian’s CiF site about why on-line forums are so full of polarized, angry, hate-filled people. “Technology alone can’t really explain the madness of the online world. It is the social aspect that turns it into a playground full of gangs of angry eight year olds. Above all, it is the sense – the hope – that we have an admiring audience out there.”
His piece is followed by a variety of comments, some thoughtful, some angry, and some that (inevitably) start out as a parody of what he was talking about and slide into the real thing. To me, the saddest responses are typified by someone with the ID Scrittipolitti: “I really don’t see the problem. CIF is certainly no more abusive and angry than everyday life. “ If true (and how could it be?), what unremittingly depressing lives such people must live….