Someone on Facebook has inexplicably created the "LOLCats" application. Those of you who have Facebook will recognize this as one of a thousand new applications that are nothing but a useless and highly diverting waste of time (I draw the line at "compare people!" because I don't want no drama). However, one girl made one minor request that resulted in a huge outcry, one that I of course fully support because I am, as has been noted before, a raging feminist/humanist/proponent of civil rights and liberties. The exchanges that have followed this young woman have been anything but civil. She's been assaulted with some pretty vile language on this thread -- which she's assuredly reading -- in ways that make even me cringe.
And the most cringe-worthy aspect is the fact that many of the (predominantly) men posting are in high school. I liked to pretend that I was exaggerating the state of high school kids these days. I liked thinking that I was all curmudgeonly and that kids are just being kids because that's what they do. But here they are, in open territory, attacking each other in sexist and racist ways that are demoralizing. And yes, feel free to tell me that kids have always used bad language and been mean to one another. I know that quite well. The problem is that suddenly they have an entire parallel universe in which to go wild, a place where no teacher is going to catch them scratching the F word into a desk or a parent overhear a phone conversation. Online they're accountable to exactly no one, and are therefore develop an attitude that translates into everyday life. Don't believe me? Think I'm being alarmist? Take a day and substitute-teach in the suburbs (cause inner city kids usually get the chance to waste hours on the internet beefing with one another). You'll see that attitude staring at you from the front row. It's obnoxious, and frightening.
1 comment:
A little more decorum on the internet would be nice, but a lot of people got obscene just to drive the point home that you can be obscene on the internet. Some kids went too far, some kids were totally legit, and some of the people responding were adults. It seems like a pretty mixed bag of people, you know?
With respect to your final sentences, are you talking about reading what kids write on the internet in a high school computer lab, or are you talking about listening to what kids say in a classroom? In the classroom, they DO have a teacher to catch them, right? I feel like I'm missing something there.
Anyhow, it seems like internet youths of today look at content as a chance to be somebody you aren't: the Inner Imus can romp around, and the hope is that nobody is taking it TOO seriously. That said, once in a while someone has to put his or her foot down and keep things from getting way out of line. I think the debate ought to be about where that point is, and most of the men/boys and women/girls who bothered to respond seem to think that this issue was nowhere near that point.
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