Re:Road Rage (Score 1)

Cars and the internet are very similar: they lead people to think that they have more power than they really do and so they act as though they have this power, stating things that they'd never say face to face and driving in a way that they wouldn't if running down a hallway with real people. The anonymous internet can make anyone think that they are King Pundit himself. Cars turn 90 pound weaklings into 2 ton goliaths. Both fool people into thinking that they are far more powerful than they really are.

In both cases people are isolated from their environment and think that they are more powerful than they are. They do and say very stupid and rude things. But just what would happen if the police visited their house because they said something a little too strong to the wrong person, or if they actually hit someone in the middle of exercising their road rage? I think reality would come crashing down and they'd realize that their fantasies were much more violent than they would like their real life to be. And they have far less power than they thought that they had.

Unfortunately there's something with both the internet and cars that encourages very bad anti-social behavior. This isn't justifiable anger. It's cowardly anti-social behavior. And it's generally done anonymously. If someone says something angry and at least uses his name I have a lot more respect for them. Attacking the anonymous angerphiliac is not an ad hominem attack because there's no hominem to attack. But I digress. My point is that anonymity leads people to say things more strongly and more rudely than they would if they actually used their name. And in that sense it just makes the internet and worse place to be.

My hope is that most websites will eventually drop all comments, or at least institute a somewhat functional ranking system such as slashdots. Otherwise people will eventually just give up. The rude junk that passes for comments just isn't worth the time.