Comment Re:Will the choir become chorus? (Score 1) 543
It's not about "self-esteem", it's about human dignity.
Hmm. "superiority complex"? Something about pots and kettles comes to mind. Newsflash: if there's nothing inherently wrong with being popular (and who said there was?), there's also nothing inherently wrong with being *un*popular. Sure, not every outcast is a misunderstood genius, or even simply a smart kid getting picked on for that reason and that reason alone. However, it's clear from the messages on this board that a good many of us "outcasts" do fit into one of those categories.
But other people have addressed those issues in response here. My own issue is slightly different.
A lot is said about the difference between "chat rooms" (and there is *so* much more to Net communication than what we call chat rooms) and the "real world". However, speaking as a chronic user of telnet talkers ("spod", as we say), I have to clear something up. The Net isn't simply a place to be "snide and cynical". It's where we make friends, have intelligent conversations, and get to know people on a mental rather than a physical level. It's been more useful to me in learning how to get along with people than my twelve years in public school were. I wasn't a Net person while I was an outcast -- I am now, and I have more friends than I did before.
There's a general privileging of face-to-face contact which is, quite frankly, undeserved. I use the Net to keep in contact with my friends from high school whose company I still value, and I also make new friends online. Some of these new friends have become some of my closer friends, although they live thousands of miles away. Saying "hey, how's it going" by a water cooler or chatting about current events with a group of acquaintances is not more *real* than having long, in-depth conversations about people's innermost thoughts and desires. It's not better than offering a virtual shoulder to cry on and a friendly ear. There are real people behind every one of the online names, talking by typing and communicating with a world of people that most people who stay in the "real world" will never meet.
It's not always like that, certainly -- there are idiots everywhere. (Oh, and the reason we feel superior sometimes to most of the people around us is that, in many ways, we *are* -- we're definitely on a different intelligence level. Most people aren't...that's why they're the average and we're not.) But it's only fair to see both sides and not to dismiss a whole culture as "pasty-faced, pudgy kids". That has to be one of the most insulting things I've ever read, btw. I'd expect that almost anywhere except a forum like this.
Hmm. "superiority complex"? Something about pots and kettles comes to mind. Newsflash: if there's nothing inherently wrong with being popular (and who said there was?), there's also nothing inherently wrong with being *un*popular. Sure, not every outcast is a misunderstood genius, or even simply a smart kid getting picked on for that reason and that reason alone. However, it's clear from the messages on this board that a good many of us "outcasts" do fit into one of those categories.
But other people have addressed those issues in response here. My own issue is slightly different.
A lot is said about the difference between "chat rooms" (and there is *so* much more to Net communication than what we call chat rooms) and the "real world". However, speaking as a chronic user of telnet talkers ("spod", as we say), I have to clear something up. The Net isn't simply a place to be "snide and cynical". It's where we make friends, have intelligent conversations, and get to know people on a mental rather than a physical level. It's been more useful to me in learning how to get along with people than my twelve years in public school were. I wasn't a Net person while I was an outcast -- I am now, and I have more friends than I did before.
There's a general privileging of face-to-face contact which is, quite frankly, undeserved. I use the Net to keep in contact with my friends from high school whose company I still value, and I also make new friends online. Some of these new friends have become some of my closer friends, although they live thousands of miles away. Saying "hey, how's it going" by a water cooler or chatting about current events with a group of acquaintances is not more *real* than having long, in-depth conversations about people's innermost thoughts and desires. It's not better than offering a virtual shoulder to cry on and a friendly ear. There are real people behind every one of the online names, talking by typing and communicating with a world of people that most people who stay in the "real world" will never meet.
It's not always like that, certainly -- there are idiots everywhere. (Oh, and the reason we feel superior sometimes to most of the people around us is that, in many ways, we *are* -- we're definitely on a different intelligence level. Most people aren't...that's why they're the average and we're not.) But it's only fair to see both sides and not to dismiss a whole culture as "pasty-faced, pudgy kids". That has to be one of the most insulting things I've ever read, btw. I'd expect that almost anywhere except a forum like this.
