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It's hard to understand and celebrate the glories of the Internet as a vehicle for "freedom and free speech" and all that good stuff, when all too often large c

It's hard to understand and celebrate the glories of the Internet as a vehicle for "freedom and free speech" and all that good stuff, when all too often large communities within it participate in acts that are all too banal and primitive as is mob vigilanteism. So is the Internet truly a pinnacle of a civilized and free society, or the regression into a barbaric state? Cause this seems pretty barbaric to me... (I am not condoning the lawyer's or FunkyJunk's actions. I think they are wrong. I just think there are better and more civilized ways of reacting to and handling this).

EvilTerran 14y ago
Alternatively, there's no higher proportion of mobbish vigilantes now than there has been in the past, they can just form into fewer, larger groups thanks to instant global telecommunication, and you can come across them more easily for the same reason. Just like there aren't any more natural disasters than there were 100 years ago, we just hear about more of them because it's so much easier to send the news now; and there aren't any more... say... underwater-basket-weavers now than then, they're just easier to find now because they're gathering on facebook and etsy.
- scotttobejoking 14y ago
  I don't think you properly take into account some of the internet factors that actually make a higher proportion of mobbish vigilantes: 1 - Visibility, which you yourself mention. We get to see injustices that we would never see before. Also, like you say, we get to see mob reactions that we would never see before and so we have many more chances to join mobs in a day. 2 - Ease of response. It's easy to post vitriol. It hardly takes any time at all, and you don't even have to walk to someone's house or disrupt your plans for the day. This is a direct result of internet tools that make communication easy, which didn't exist before. 3 - Anonymity, and lack of physical presence. People say things anonymously on the internet that they would never in a million years say to someone in person. Basically, it's just easier to be in a mob these days...

EvilTerran 14y ago

Alternatively, there's no higher proportion of mobbish vigilantes now than there has been in the past, they can just form into fewer, larger groups thanks to instant global telecommunication, and you can come across them more easily for the same reason. Just like there aren't any more natural disasters than there were 100 years ago, we just hear about more of them because it's so much easier to send the news now; and there aren't any more... say... underwater-basket-weavers now than then, they're just easier to find now because they're gathering on facebook and etsy.

scotttobejoking 14y ago
I don't think you properly take into account some of the internet factors that actually make a higher proportion of mobbish vigilantes: 1 - Visibility, which you yourself mention. We get to see injustices that we would never see before. Also, like you say, we get to see mob reactions that we would never see before and so we have many more chances to join mobs in a day. 2 - Ease of response. It's easy to post vitriol. It hardly takes any time at all, and you don't even have to walk to someone's house or disrupt your plans for the day. This is a direct result of internet tools that make communication easy, which didn't exist before. 3 - Anonymity, and lack of physical presence. People say things anonymously on the internet that they would never in a million years say to someone in person. Basically, it's just easier to be in a mob these days...