Internet Hate 2...and How To Rise Above
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- Alexandre Orion
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- om mani padme hum
04 Nov 2012 10:12 #79358
by Alexandre Orion
Be a philosopher ; but, amidst all your philosophy, be still a man.
~ David Hume
Chaque homme a des devoirs envers l'homme en tant qu'homme.
~ Henri Bergson
Replied by Alexandre Orion on topic Re: Internet Hate 2...and How To Rise Above
Any discussion about 'hate' is related to any other discussion about 'hate'. Stands to reason. What stands against reason is that, just as with many other testimonies about the effects of discrimination, we tend to moralise. This may not be the best measure, for moralising has the effect of breeding hypocrisy. One desires to be seen by others as moral, just, egalitarian ... whether one really and truly feels that way or not.
There again, just as with any other behaviour, the internet affords one the anonymity to indulge oneself in what one would not want to be seen doing in society. The illusions are multiple : first, that 'people' on the internet are not 'people' at all, but just images, another sort of icône, a 'username', an avatar, & cetera. Unfortunately, we can see this even in the off-line world, whereas people are not really regarded as other living, feeling, experiencing beings just like ourselves, but as details of the environment, to be appreciated or ignored. Or, in the worse case, abused as we abuse the environment.
The second deceitful illusion is that of the anonymity, and this deception is two-fold. In primo, hate is catagorically a manifestation of fear. Fear of the perceived injury to our cleverly crafted self-image that would be inflicted by seeing someone that we choose (or have been taught to choose) to view as 'other' than oneself ; fear that others may see and compare us to the victim of the hatred - and all engaged in it are experiencing this same fear. Spreading fear/hate on the Internet, though seemingly safely done from behind the screen, makes it more visible to more and more people than a 'random act of spleen' would be in person. And if it is not removed by someone (an adminstrator, for example), it stays there for a really, really long time ...
But - hence the second deception - one cannot be anonymous to oneself. As human beings, we are naturally empathic. We feel one anothers' pain acutely. This makes us desire to be as moral as we seek to appear to others. So, though the fear in us makes us behave horribly toward one another frequently and then use all sorts of justifications and reasons to hide from our own cowardliness - it doesn't clean up the conscience very well.
I guess the point I'm trying to make here is that whether it be in the Internet or in one's own kitchen, hate/fear begins and ends with self, no matter how ghastly one's behaviour is toward someone else. It is the clearest display of how suffering breeds suffering - a vicious cycle that perpetuates itself among people but also within the individual. The remedy for this is simply to allow oneself to feel our natural empathy and altruism, without resorting to the artifice of morality.
There again, just as with any other behaviour, the internet affords one the anonymity to indulge oneself in what one would not want to be seen doing in society. The illusions are multiple : first, that 'people' on the internet are not 'people' at all, but just images, another sort of icône, a 'username', an avatar, & cetera. Unfortunately, we can see this even in the off-line world, whereas people are not really regarded as other living, feeling, experiencing beings just like ourselves, but as details of the environment, to be appreciated or ignored. Or, in the worse case, abused as we abuse the environment.
The second deceitful illusion is that of the anonymity, and this deception is two-fold. In primo, hate is catagorically a manifestation of fear. Fear of the perceived injury to our cleverly crafted self-image that would be inflicted by seeing someone that we choose (or have been taught to choose) to view as 'other' than oneself ; fear that others may see and compare us to the victim of the hatred - and all engaged in it are experiencing this same fear. Spreading fear/hate on the Internet, though seemingly safely done from behind the screen, makes it more visible to more and more people than a 'random act of spleen' would be in person. And if it is not removed by someone (an adminstrator, for example), it stays there for a really, really long time ...
But - hence the second deception - one cannot be anonymous to oneself. As human beings, we are naturally empathic. We feel one anothers' pain acutely. This makes us desire to be as moral as we seek to appear to others. So, though the fear in us makes us behave horribly toward one another frequently and then use all sorts of justifications and reasons to hide from our own cowardliness - it doesn't clean up the conscience very well.
I guess the point I'm trying to make here is that whether it be in the Internet or in one's own kitchen, hate/fear begins and ends with self, no matter how ghastly one's behaviour is toward someone else. It is the clearest display of how suffering breeds suffering - a vicious cycle that perpetuates itself among people but also within the individual. The remedy for this is simply to allow oneself to feel our natural empathy and altruism, without resorting to the artifice of morality.
Be a philosopher ; but, amidst all your philosophy, be still a man.
~ David Hume
Chaque homme a des devoirs envers l'homme en tant qu'homme.
~ Henri Bergson
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