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News & ArtsFriday, November 23, 2012
Film Newsflash: The Internet Is Full of Terrible People
Posted by Paul Constant on Fri, Nov 23, 2012 at 11:24 AM
Yesterday, Prometheus Brown of the Blue Scholars retweeted a bunch of people who took a very particular message away from the shitty Red Dawn remake:
- Click to enlarge.
Between this and the cesspit of Gawker commenters who are using Black Friday videos as an excuse to unleash all their racist, classist hatred*, I kind of want to spend the weekend dipping the whole internet in disinfectant.
* For example: "Chain and lock the doors and gas all of these motherfuckers. Done," and "It's like animals fighting over food....except its fat people fighting over cheap walmart crap,"
2
This is not an example that the Internet is full of terrible people. It's evidence that the Internet is full of teenagers. They are stupid, but they don't know it. It's a volatile combo.
3
* I here I thought Paul Constant was a trolling, hypocritical, classist asshole, but now I know he's just a sensitive soul.
4
Kiel
Tyler
Kaleb
Blake
Dylan
They're teenagers. Their brains haven't fully developed yet (that's a fact, not a sarcastic comment).
Tyler
Kaleb
Blake
Dylan
They're teenagers. Their brains haven't fully developed yet (that's a fact, not a sarcastic comment).
6
It's now clear why print publications (and especially newspapers) were developed to filter out statements and opinions of those whose strongest suit is ignorance. I hope you all really like the internet that you've handed your social and political fortunes over to. Don't think about how cool it is now. Think about how it will be used to oppress you in twenty-five years. Good luck believers.
7
We liberals thought making information and the ability to communicate available to everyone would improve everyone's lives. Turns out it also gives close-minded stupid and mean people who will never improve, a powerful soap box and wide-ranging social platform to amplify their stupidity and meanness.
8
@6 like there wasn't a few hundred years where xenophobic ignorance didn't exist in print or that newspapers eventually weeded that shit out. peoples be peoples, man. always have been , always will be.
9
@6 Yeah, our media filter worked great during the run-up to the Iraq War. The mainstream media was filled to the brim with great, elite opinions on how we needed to bring freedom to the oppressed at the barrel of a gun. Where would we be without their fine judgement?
I don't like being snarky, but I've been seeing too many people expressing viewpoints like this. It's frankly scares me. The problem isn't the democratization of expression. These children have been indoctrinated by a major Hollywood motion picture, which is the definition of the old elitist model of information sharing. Our education system is based on teaching obedience, with the eventual goal of being a "good employee". If they were taught how to identify propaganda, think critically, come up with their own system of values etc., they wouldn't react this way. Of course that doesn't serve the interest of those in charge of the filters.
I don't like being snarky, but I've been seeing too many people expressing viewpoints like this. It's frankly scares me. The problem isn't the democratization of expression. These children have been indoctrinated by a major Hollywood motion picture, which is the definition of the old elitist model of information sharing. Our education system is based on teaching obedience, with the eventual goal of being a "good employee". If they were taught how to identify propaganda, think critically, come up with their own system of values etc., they wouldn't react this way. Of course that doesn't serve the interest of those in charge of the filters.
11
The Seattle Times and Yahoo comments are waaayyy more racist and stupid and I doubt that they're teenagers. There is a lot of hatred in this country towards, blacks, Latinos, and immigrants. If folks cant see it, they're in a bigger bubble than the Republicans.
12
Wow, talk about painting with a huge brush. The internet isn't full of terrible people, or teenagers, or any one type of person. Jeez, you're talking about a miniscule portion of less than one percent of internet users that either saw this movie and then tweeted about it, or, in the other case, commented on Gawker. Get a sense of proportion. The internet has about 2.5 billion users. By painting with such a huge brush, you're guilty of the very behavior that you're criticizing in others.
"If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence."
—Louis Brandeis
"If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence."
—Louis Brandeis
14
@2, 4
Sorry, they don't get a pass for being a teenager. I didn't think those kinds of things as a teenager, nor did the people I chose for my friends. Fault their upbringing if you must, but I think teens are pretty capable of at least some critical thought.
Did you think like that when you were a teenager?
Sorry, they don't get a pass for being a teenager. I didn't think those kinds of things as a teenager, nor did the people I chose for my friends. Fault their upbringing if you must, but I think teens are pretty capable of at least some critical thought.
Did you think like that when you were a teenager?
16
@15: Exactly. Excusing stupid teenagers' stupidity just because they're teenagers is where douchebag adults come from.
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