• ToixStory
    +5

    I agree with this article in that I find myself, at times, terrified that one little screw up in public can completely detonate my entire life if it gets on the internet. Not even just related to any kids I have, but things such as the guy who took a selfie with kids in the background the mom started a hate crusade against him. The internet has become a center for the ultimate polarization of society and a massive hate box that constantly feeds on stories like these.

    Nothing really productive comes of them, and nobody really seeks to understand if someone is just tired, having a bad day, not paying attention, or what have you. Because, by the time the details are sorted out, the hate has already started, and that's terrifying.

    • a7h13f
      +4

      I mentioned this phenomenon in the Hulk Hogan story that popped up recently. Tl;dr, someone posted Hogan saying some racist things in a private conversation from 8 years ago, the story got picked up by The National Enquirer, and now the WWE has disowned him, and even removed him from the Hall of Fame.

      It terrifies me that someone could find something I said nearly a decade ago and get me fired for it, today. I don't agree with all the stances I held 3 years ago, let alone 8. But as you mentioned, the phenomenon isn't limited just to the past. I'd be horrified to find that someone recorded me on a bad day and put it on YouTube with my name attached. We shouldn't judge people based on isolated incidents of us at our worse, but that's the type of drama that sells. If a consumer market didn't exist for it, if people weren't begging to be fed stories like these, they wouldn't exist at all.

    • Dernhelm
      +2

      It is silliness that people have lost the ability to talk like human beings and have to go to Facebook and post a dissertation as to how they are wronged. Like /u/a7h13f said why not just talk to them face to face, or if you are you to scared to do that why not call them privately and explain the situation to get it resolved.