At times I just want to drop off all the social media…except here, which is full of good, bright, polite people. Out There are a number who have extraordinary good will, but of those, certain ones echo everything that comes their way; and then—there are the ones who have simply checked their manners at the threshold and declined to dress or bathe…
I have run into several I keep intending to unfriend, in the theory that perhaps exposure to something a little different might broaden their outlook—if they live another century.
And then there are the ones who simply don’t give a damn about any other living thing on the planet, and you would think they would go off and become recluses, but nay! they have opinions and must voice them at every opportunity, because they are so undervalued by the world they must be fresh and useful for all social occasions.
There are a few traits I deem lie at the root of problems in the world. I put selfishness at the very head of the list. Oh, I do not mind a healthy self-interest, the person who sensibly takes care of himself *so he can possibly take care of others,* but those who operate with a fierce sort of selfishness and belligerence, as if they have been personally wronged by everyone who does not do as they would do, and who does not believe as they believe, and who evidently believe that they are economically threatened if they have to spend a penny to keep a less fortunate person clothed and fed…these are not my favorite sorts. Can we hear from the thousands of nice folk on the web? Nay. These fellows push to the front of every line, comment in every thread with certain buzzwords, and persistently intimidate the quieter voices, diverting topics aside to issues of spelling or exactitudes of dates or whatever—when they feel the argument is possibly going against them. Which is tiresome for everyone, I think. Like the Lord High Executioner, I am composing a little list…and I think as my friends allotment runs out on FB, I am about to create a bit more room…
Sigh. Back from a good time and relaxation and I run head on into webbish generated by internet grumps…that’s the stuff that ought to go in rubbish, but it’s not.
I sympathize completely. Maybe some nice tea will relax them? You know…Ilisidi’s sort of tea…no? Aw, shucks.
I live in hope that these folks will just…die out somehow, someday.
Hope this coming week is better than this evening, though. Many good thoughts from us in the deep south 🙂
I generally stick to the genealogy groups on FB; polite people with the occasional troll that the moderators ditch ASAP. And, of course, I keep tabs on favourite author(s):D
I have no use at all for Facebook. I do not like its invasive and exploitive data mining practices and the fact that it invades its members privacy. exploits them, and peddles their personal information to other companies. I do not care for the mentality it creates in some of its users (present company excepted). I do not like that some of its members use it as a platform for bullying and abusing other members. I can see how it is a “necessary evil” in terms of people having to use it to get their product before the public (present company included). However,you won’t see me on it.
Nor I. My favorite evidence of CJ’s observation is the way people drive these days, “Get the hell out of my way, I’ve got someplace to be right now!”
Hi CJ. It’s been a long time since I posted here!
I love Facebook. I’m one of those people who has friends all over the world and it means that I can keep in touch with them on a constant basis. it’s like a noisy bar that I can drop into whenever I want. I’ve also got my friends sorted so that the ones I want to hear most noise from are in a separate list that I visit more often than any other. It works well for me.
But I know exactly what you mean. I’ve recently fallen in love with the Coursera learning platform. All those courses by learned people, for free! But the problem you outline above is really prevalent there. Coursera has this policy that you can sign up as “anonymous”. And anyone who signs up a anonymous is simply called that on the individual course forums. I’ve recently taken Rabkin’s Fantasy and Science Fiction Course there. It was wonderful, and the forums were full of interesting people who had all sorts to say on the books we discussed. (Most of them weren’t members of our community, which made the discussion even more interesting!) But those “anonymouses” were real pains. Thet were the ones who exhibited all the negative characteristics you talk about. I wish we could get rid of them……..
“I wish we could get rid of them……”
Do you have any buddies in the NSA?
snork
…I see you’ve met my superbly insecure spousal unit…
That’s my theory about the rest of them too; they think that if you truly understood you would of course agree. To many, talking louder is better than talking smarter, and clinging to one’s first opinion better than sitting quietly and thinking about why you hold it and how valid it is. I think of it as laziness of the soul. My spousal unit thinks of it as integrity. It nearly devastated him to find that religious opinions that I had come to by years of thinking about them were the same as the actual dogma produced by the doctors of his church. He still insists on explaining these to me in great detail, as he is so afraid of being no authority on any subject. Poor man.
“Everybody’s a Rush Limbaugh!” Bombast over reason? Not my cuppa. 🙁
Thank you for posting the “Fallacy List” on FB, which seems to sum up what you posted above. Things I didn’t catch in logic before seem to have been quickly cleared up for me. I never took Logic in college, so didn’t learn the differences among things like, sorites, tautologies, etc. No need to iterate them here, though.
I confess I didn’t know you used FB. If it wasn’t the sole means of communication used by some of my RL friends I wouldn’t…
You can get the ‘fallacy list’ by googling ‘logical fallacies’ — it’s kind of fun learning to play in that garden of deceptions, or at least to identify the toxic flora. They’re a bit related to the long list of ‘figures of speech,’ which include my favorites, the ‘oxymoron’ which sounds like a particularly dim student (as in a ‘dark light.’), and the hysteron proteron, which sounds like a physics error. The latter means literally getting your last thing first, or confusion in a list: “No, Gorg. First you raid, THEN you pillage, THEN you burn…”
Facebook is a evil, vile sinkhole that devours all your time if you aren’t careful (almost worse then those little colored birds with no feet and a hatred of pigs), and the trolls seem to breed there more then any other virtual location of public discussion.
I attempted to sign up once for Facebook, but my application never went through, for some reason; in retrospect, I am not all that displeased. I am distressed by the number of companies who rely on Facebook to conduct their business, to the exclusion of the old-fashioned face to face meeting, and if you aren’t wired in like a print server, you don’t matter. Too much personal info being made available to people whose business it isn’t.
I amuse myself by changing my stats often—from Ulan Bator to Kwazulu Natal…just in case they’re marketing. I think I’ll change my occupation from writer to world overlord and see if anyone notices. They really got stirred up about Kwazulu Natal.
That’s what I love most about you — you have this absolutely impish side of you which cares not a whit for rules that have no grounding in logic or reason and loves to play havoc with the minds of those who slavishly adhere to those rules.
I, for one, welcome our new world overlord ::evil::
I opted for Galactic Overlord. Why be modest? And I’m sure it has a boondoggle advantage for Earth.
Divine galactic overlord, may one humbly petition your majesty for sub-overlordship over Omicron Persei 8?
Most revered Overlord, our galaxy is now safe in your hands. Far better than in the hands of the trolls on Facebook, or elsewhere lurking in the corners of the Web. Reading comments on almost any article or subject has caused me to wonder about the levels of courtesy(nearly nonexistent), education (are spelling and punctuation simply not taught today?) and general intelligence in the population. Scary!
I stay on Facebook to touch base with my kids and far-flung friends. I hang on to Ad Block, which controls a good percentage of the obnoxious advertising. I try not to put out anything actually personal, and remember that even a careless “like” for a cartoon a friend posted can be used against me.
Oh, I think everyone should have at least a stellar lordship—of course, there is the paperwork, but we’ll devise robots for that.
I wants to be ebul dark overlord. http://cheezburger.com/7492571136?ref=filmstrip
I can has minions, plez? http://cheezburger.com/2566948864
Galactic Overlord it is. ::snerk:: thanks for a much needed laugh.
When my broadband is certain again, I’ll look up the fallacies list.
A tech is due out Thursday. Whee.
Ebul dark overlord it is…….
Oh! Minions! I think we should pass out minions! We should require all of them to read, write, and be aware of logical fallacies!
Uhmmm… mighty Overlord? Isn’t that create amusing fallacies? I, Lady Footinmouth, can be of assistance in that particular area…
I can haz minions? Pleez Galactic Overlord?
Lol! You guys!bbb