Yes it DOES.
People may be emotional, but that is not an excuse, that is simply an explanation. There is no excuse for bad behavior. If you call names, if you say horrible things, if you attack someone's family, if you go after people, and chase them around SI merely to hurl insults or say ugly things, you are responsible and not excused because you are "emotional." I'm sorry for people who can't control themselves, but I don't want to be around them very much, and I certainly wish I had not created a forum where people can act out negatively because they are emotional.
I think far from people telling themselves this is "just the internet", people come here to act out the psychodramas they are too afraid to act out in 3d. It's not about the other people- because when you are rude, or act out, it's about you (I use that generically, not in the personal sense), it's not about other people. The only polite thing to do, imo, when engagement is impossible, and people cannot be polite, is to ignore. Meeting bad behavior with bad behavior is simply a descending spiral, leading to extreme ugliness.
I wish everyone here would try to keep in mind that when you throw back ugliness, at people who post it, you have produced something equally bad, you have lost any moral high ground you might have thought you had, and no one will pay any attention to you anymore, except people who already agree with you. |
