There’re two tabs open at the moment in this browser window, side by side, but worlds apart.
The first describes the historic move by Judge Frank Bearden to freeze issuing of gay marriage licences in Oregon on one hand, ordering the state to formally legalize them on the other. His order that all the marriages performed thusfar must also be recognized is also very significant and a huge step forward for the movement in America. Even if Bush pushes through his constitutional amendment, even if these marriages aren’t recognized in other states, those people who just want couples who love each other to be allowed to marry, regardless of orientation, have won a major victory and should be proud of themselves.
So what’s in the second tab, you ask? Well, you would ask if you were there, or reading this or possibly gave a damn 😉 In the second tab is an article reporting the surge in hate sites on the Net, claiming that the Internet is fostering racism, Semitism and various other hate-based activities. It’s amazing to me that on the one hand we have a massive liberalization in the Real World ™, juxtaposed with increasing hatred. And that modern communications has made both possible.
Admittedly television has been responsible for much of the relaxation of attitudes towards homosexuals that is visible (after all, exposure does breed tolerance) in public. But driving this was a much greater feeling by gay people that they could be safe in their own skins … and nothing helped this more than the internet. Gay pride and all those sorts of movements could hardly have reached out as the internet has and still does.
Think you might be gay? Confused about it? Well, a quite Google search (with the right terms of course) will beat you a direct path to a number of supportive people who don’t mind that you want to remain anonymous (hell, they probably did once too), who understand how confused you feel, who want to help you and let you talk. Places that will give you a little time to get comfortable in this new skin you suddenly realised was real underneath the clothes and to realise that you needn’t be a stereotype. This was the essential prework before homosexuality could become anything like acceptable to the general public — it is difficult to like or respect anyone who is scared or afraid to be themselves.
So how can the internet foster so much hatred on the other hand, just as easily? For the exact same reason. Google and similar can put you in touch with likeminded people, wherever they may be. You can be anonymous. You can be insular, unexposed to real people who embody the things you hate, whether that be a race, religion, orientation, age or economic level (after all, a surprising number of people really do hate the poor…). You can pick and choose where you go, who you talk to. It’s much easier on the net to filter out the unwelcome reality or normality that has driven you out of the Real World in the first place.
While I was writing this it almost surprised me that I did not resent these facts. But then I realised why — the internet is just a tool. People will be people and all the abuse, all the hateful rhetoric, is all down to people. The internet allows the “mob-component” aspect of people to run free, particularly when anonymity is so much easier. Just watch the comments to this post and see. They can stay there, testament to the greatness of the internet as a tool and the sadness of people’s ability to hate each other for no reason at all.
Comments (3) Permalink
April 23rd, 2004 at 2:16 AM
The internet is just a tool that people use…? I’d aggree but that it strikes of that tired phrase “guns don’t kill people, people kill people”…
I guess the difference is the good outweighs the bad. I don’t think the internet is doing anything significant to promote h*te.
Without global communication, most people’s *only* source of knowledge was from likeminded local people. Now any information you want is only a choice away, and even the most passionate racist is going to read an unbias web source at some point, even if its in the vein of “know thy enemy”.
And that anonymity is a useful tool as well, allowing even the most reclusive individual to learn social grace. I shall horribly misquote Simon now in saying that “There is nothing that builds a well rounded individual more than moderating a forum”.
April 23rd, 2004 at 8:52 AM
“Now any information you want is only a choice away, and even the most passionate racist is going to read an unbias web source at some point, even if its in the vein of “know thy enemy”.”
Strangely, Tony, your naivete still surprises me.
The internet _is_ just a tool. Guns are just tools. Neither could induce hatred or death without being used by people. The real question is whether the availability of the tool makes the unwanted effect more likely to happen. Are you more likely to kill if you have a gun? Are you more likely to hate if you have the internet?
I think that it doesn’t matter whether the good outweighs the bad. The internet allows the distribution of kiddie porn and the grooming of minors for sexual abuse. Does this make the internet bad? No, it just makes bad people more effective at carrying out their desires, or making money.
We can only start to look at the real problems when we stop blaming the tools and start looking at the underlying causes.
April 24th, 2004 at 8:52 AM
“and even the most passionate racist is going to read an unbias web source at some point”
Chances aren’t actually all that good. They may well start to read and unbiased web source but if they’re really that “passionate” in their hatred they’re quite likely to go “this is bullsh*t” and go and read something more in line with their own views.
As for “guns don’t kill people, people kill people”.. much as I hate to admit, it it is true – there was mass genocide way before the invention of guns and they are by no means the only way to kill someone. As numerous people have pointed out, the gun helps.. but it is by no means the root cause – just as the internet is not the root cause of child abuse, or abduction, or terrorism or any of the other things it is blamed of on a frequent basis.
As Meri says “The internet allows the “mob-component” aspect of people to run free” – and mobs are rarely capable of rational thought. To quote Terry Pratchett “The IQ of a mob is the IQ of its most stupid member devided by the number of mobsters.” When your talking of thousands of potential mobsters that can take the IQ down very quickly…