Internet Cowardice

[Laharl]

Re: Internet Cowardice

I finally found the penny-arcade I've been looking for.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19

Pretty much what I've been getting at in picture form.

[ImnotmentalImAlden]

Re: Internet Cowardice

I would say everything I say on here to you in person because I know more ways to break another's arm or dislocate another's shoulder that if one way doesn't work, I can use another. Then you wouldn't be able to type your gay **** on this gay ****. Haha, ******.
PS Sorry Casey for ruinin your thread, felt like it had to be said.

[Cavernio]

Re: Internet Cowardice

Point proven Laharl. But not from your link, but from ImnotmentalImAlden.

[ckj846]

Re: Internet Cowardice

I have vented online in the forums not because I am a coward in real life but because I needed some anonymous opinions. I HAVE talked to people in real life about my situation but I just needed another outlet and another source for advice. About changing your personality online... Everyone does it. You can't say you are 100% yourself online because you just can't do it. I'm not saying everyone becomes jackasses when they are online but you can't express yourself as easily so you have to compensate. This whole thread really is a waste of time just because you are aruging over opinions that cannot be proved with solid evidence. Stop bickering unless you are like this in real life too. OH THE IRONY.
O_o

[Cavernio]

Re: Internet Cowardice

I bicker about many things in real life until I've had the cut-off, and even then...
Also, there's nothing wrong with arguing over opinions. If people didn't argue over unprovable opinions, then there'd be no arguments at all, now would there be? What's wrong with knowing the opinion of someone else anyways? You obviously didn't think it was a complete waste of time, or else you wouldn't have voiced your opinion in the first place. Besides, what sort of forum discussion isn't a waste of time, really.

I actually find the opposite about being able to express myself a lot of the time. (Although with some people, its better in person). I'm far more articulate when I actually think what I want to say through. I think I'm more myself online than what I am in person.

I don't get this 100% being yourself really though anyways. What on earth does 'be yourself' mean anyways? What, you're not yourself if you choose to not speak up about an issue? You're not yourself if you choose you'd like to dress in the latest fashions? Being myself means that I can choose to put on any persona I want, including following the crowd. If I don't try to BE something, then my true self is a wallowing, lazy, selfish person. I'd rather not be that.

[Hr2]

Re: Internet Cowardice

I somewhat disagree here.

The internet is an extension of your RL self because that is undeniably you behind those words. If you're an asshole or generally just a bad person on the internet, it's not because something magically changes in you once you open up IE, no, it's because there's a part of you which is actually a bad person. That part of you is suppressed most of the time because being a bad person is generally unacceptable, but you generally don't have to answer to your actions on the internet (barring getting Wenzeled, but that's an extreme case). So you only act out when you can't get in trouble. What's that called? Oh yeah, cowardice.

You're right in that nobody can tell you what you can or can't be on the internet, but how you act online most certainly reflects who you are, same as how you act in real life.

I guess what I'm getting at is that being on the internet doesn't give you a free pass to be an asshole and then completely excuse it because you were online (an excuse I've seen way too many times here, and it sickens me). No, you may be able to avoid the face rearranging for which you asked, but your actions to merit it won't be wiped off your character record.

I do not see "it's the internet" as a legitimate excuse for being an asshole, but, I do see it as a free pass to say your true beliefs. My post was not about people who are assholes, but people who might be extremely shy in real life who find the opportunity to be outgoing on the internet because they find people who they can connect with more. Primarily I see forums as a means of enjoyment, I'm not saying they should be used to get your sick kicks, but if you want to pretend to be religious in real life when in reality you're a satanist and everyone on the internet knows about it, that's completely acceptable!

I see the internet as a seperate playing field from real life, if you're an asshole on the internet, and I only know you on the internet, then you're an asshole, period. If you're an asshole in real life, and I only know you as a nice guy on the internet, then you're a nice guy, period.

I kind of agree with you, except on the part that internet is an "extention" of real life, for me, it's not. The internet is completely seperate, I know different people on the internet, I talk about different things, and I do act somewhat differently in general (not more or less of an asshole, just slightly differently) and I don't think there is anything wrong with having two personalities. I think there is something wrong with being an asshole to others, regardless of the medium, but I don't think that being an asshole in one part of your life means you are automatically an asshole in the other.

@Laharl: I don't agree with all your religious topics and stuff, but if you're willing to make a good topic, I'm willing to make a good post.

[Laharl]

Re: Internet Cowardice

I don't ask for people to agree with what I believe when it comes to religion. I just ask them to put the same time and effort into discovering Truth and Universal Law as I have before they start to call me stupid and ignorant, because I am neither, ESPECIALLY for the reason they claim I am.

Anyway, on your last point, Hr2:

I don't see why it should be "a seperate playing field." As Guido said, it's still undeniably you at the keyboard. It's you typing the letters. You either believe them or you don't, and if you don't believe the things you're typing, then [i]why bother[i]?

Just as any author can't help but write a novel which expresses some idea they believe in, it's not possible to forge an online persona which is not you.

[Kilgamayan]

Re: Internet Cowardice

can't help but

BAD LAHARL

NO COOKIE

[Laharl]

Re: Internet Cowardice

Wait, what?

What did I do? I am confused.

[Grandiagod]

Re: Internet Cowardice

Listen, it is the internet.

The fact that people can say what they want under an umbrella of anonimity draws a ton of people who want to vent or generally act different from what they otherwise would. It's like going to a car show and wondering why so many car enthusiasts are there. Now, does this make it wrong to act differently on the internet than in real life? Nope, demanding a person to behave on the internet as in IRL is stupid. Why should someones IRL personality affect they way they socialize online. Does that make them "fake"? Only if you believer that real life is the standard that people should be judged by online.

However, on a personal note, I pretty much act like I do IRL. Dumb humor, occasional flukes of wit and a general nonchalance toward everything in general.

[GuidoHunter]

Re: Internet Cowardice

Wait, what?

What did I do? I am confused.

Double negative.

Interestingly enough, that would have flown completely over my head if I hadn't picked up English Grammar for Dummies today when I had some time to kill in Borders. I didn't agree with a lot the guy said, but I did learn that "can't help but" is a double negative.

--Guido

http://andy.mikee385.com

[UberMario]

Re: Internet Cowardice

tl;dr

I like how Rai just doesn't like Laharl and La feels he needs to make a deal out of it. Rai can be an ass, I can be an ass. You just have to avoid em or ignore em. Right? I just don't see where this thread would be going. Really, I haven't read where this thread has went, but I don't see where La was trying to make it go.

La, get some balls.

Rai, follow the Bambi rule.

[Laharl]

Re: Internet Cowardice

Double negative.

Interestingly enough, that would have flown completely over my head if I hadn't picked up English Grammar for Dummies today when I had some time to kill in Borders. I didn't agree with a lot the guy said, but I did learn that "can't help but" is a double negative.

--Guido

http://andy.mikee385.com

Uh, yeah, actually. That's the point. It's like saying the author cannot NOT write about something that touches home with their personal ideas. See? Still perfectly understandable.

@ UberMario:

The size of my testicles is in question now because I'm not going to take crap from a skeezy dweeb only capable of acting tough online because people would just laugh at him in person for opening his mouth? Okay, buddy.

[Cenright]

Re: Internet Cowardice

BACK ON TOPIC.....

It isn't being a different personality on the net that bothers me, I have to admit, that I have formed some changes myself, between how I am online and offline, although I am basically the same person.

My problem is with the people who say "Hell, it is the internet, I can be an ass, cause I never have to see these people". This is the type of person that says "You are only breaking the law if you get caught".

People who say it is different because it is the net, are actually just showing their true colors of how they would be in real life when they feel there are no ramifications for their actions. Of course, this isn't 100% true. No one idea is 100% true, but I have seen this type of thing time and time again.

[Hr2]

Re: Internet Cowardice

Do you act differently around your friends than your parents?
Do you act differently at school as opposed to at home?
Do you act differently at work as opposed to at school?

See, I think its fine to act differently in these situations. Obviously if you're with your grandmother you're not going to swear and tell dirty jokes, but if you're with your best buds, why the hell not!

This is the same logic I apply to the internet, you act differently in different places not necessarily because you're acting out of personality in any of them, you simply are intelligent enough to adapt your actions to what is suitable for the time and place.

If a joker doesn't tell jokes at a funeral they're not being a coward, they're not being duplicitous, they're being NORMAL, they're being a good person.

If anything I said here seems to contradict what I said before (and it might) then disregard what I said before and listen to this. I actually forgot about the stance I formulated about treating different people differently (not as in racism, if that's what you're wondering, we were talking about what their relation to you was (friend, acquaintance, enemy, stranger, etc.))

@Laharl: Calling what you beleive "the Truth" or whatever is probably why everyone hates you. What is white to you is black to us (us as in, the atheists and agnostics of FFR).