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Frosstbyte · 12-02-2007, 08:37 PM

Everyone has always had these thoughts.

They just didn't have the internet to make them public.

It's not a matter of change in attitude or perception, it's a change in communication. Now you can be a completely anonymous handle and say whatever you want about whoever you want and be almost completely without recourse (short of making a specific enough threat that they track your IP and arrest you).

I think YOU PERSONALLY notice it more because there are more places for you to see it, but I can tell you with a great deal of certainty that it's been going on for a very very long time. I've read minutes from meetings of my fraternity that are almost two hundred years old. The syntax and diction are a little different, but the substance from 1826 is astonishingly similar to the substance from 2004.

Also, keep in mind who has easy access to the internet and who tends to use it more for forum posting: white, suburban males-particularly if you're looking at any sort of pop-culture, technology, gaming or sex related forums. The internet (shockingly to some of us) is still a fairly narrow slice of the whole.

I think you're making some fairly gross generalizations about an enormous swath of the population, and I'm not sure why.

I think that saying "wow boys are really hateful and mean now in a way they weren't before" because of how people post on forums is analogous to saying "wow girls are huge sluts now in a way they weren't before" because of how many girls post nude pictures of themselves on the internet.

Is there an element of truth to both statements? Sure. But I think the difference between "then" and "now" is how easy it is for you and me and anyone else to find it and see it, not how much it actually goes (or went) on.

12-02-2007, 08:37 PM	#11 (permalink)
Frosstbyte Winter is Coming Location: The North	Everyone has always had these thoughts. They just didn't have the internet to make them public. It's not a matter of change in attitude or perception, it's a change in communication. Now you can be a completely anonymous handle and say whatever you want about whoever you want and be almost completely without recourse (short of making a specific enough threat that they track your IP and arrest you). I think YOU PERSONALLY notice it more because there are more places for you to see it, but I can tell you with a great deal of certainty that it's been going on for a very very long time. I've read minutes from meetings of my fraternity that are almost two hundred years old. The syntax and diction are a little different, but the substance from 1826 is astonishingly similar to the substance from 2004. Also, keep in mind who has easy access to the internet and who tends to use it more for forum posting: white, suburban males-particularly if you're looking at any sort of pop-culture, technology, gaming or sex related forums. The internet (shockingly to some of us) is still a fairly narrow slice of the whole. I think you're making some fairly gross generalizations about an enormous swath of the population, and I'm not sure why. I think that saying "wow boys are really hateful and mean now in a way they weren't before" because of how people post on forums is analogous to saying "wow girls are huge sluts now in a way they weren't before" because of how many girls post nude pictures of themselves on the internet. Is there an element of truth to both statements? Sure. But I think the difference between "then" and "now" is how easy it is for you and me and anyone else to find it and see it, not how much it actually goes (or went) on. Last edited by Frosstbyte; 12-02-2007 at 08:52 PM.. Reason: SPELLING IZ FUN!