April 22nd, 2010 / 6:46 pm
Snippets
Snippets
Roxane Gay—
I really enjoy The Awl, and today there’s an interesting article about why online commenters seem to revel in meanness.
the internet is conversation dehumanized. everything is too dry. no one smiles or frowns or laughs or cries or shows interest or shows disgust or gives a look like, yeah i’m totally with you or please i cant believe you just said that, because we all just look like words. we take for granted the nuances of face to face conversation when we’re without it. it keeps our decencies in check. we should think about the subtle variations in how a person typed a response, did they type it fast and furiously or slow and deleting back and forth, or did they type a long comment out in a different program and then copy and paste it in, when they type do their fingers just gently touch the keys afraid of waking someone else up, or do they shout things at the computer so the dog comes into the room to see whats wrong. im doing this one pretty slow. half a glas of wine, whispering every phrase over and over as im typing so i can hear the meter like i always do, and now im thinking i wont submit comment because its not a very interesting comment. another sip of wine. looking at my other dayjob computer. another sip of wine. stoic facial expression. grey shirt and jeans. havent shaved in a few months. havent gotten a haircut in 6 months. brown eyes. look of consternation at the keyboard as im typing this with my larger than average fingers. cut and pasted entire comment into notepad so i can refresh without losing the comment. continuing the comment in notepad. just read the entire response so far. boring. makes me seem clever or pretentious. look at how clever i am, im being meta. mood escalating into intense cynicism that nothing in the world is interesting and a disappointment in the overall creativity of myself and of humanity. another sip of wine.
the internet is conversation dehumanized. everything is too dry. no one smiles or frowns or laughs or cries or shows interest or shows disgust or gives a look like, yeah i’m totally with you or please i cant believe you just said that, because we all just look like words. we take for granted the nuances of face to face conversation when we’re without it. it keeps our decencies in check. we should think about the subtle variations in how a person typed a response, did they type it fast and furiously or slow and deleting back and forth, or did they type a long comment out in a different program and then copy and paste it in, when they type do their fingers just gently touch the keys afraid of waking someone else up, or do they shout things at the computer so the dog comes into the room to see whats wrong. im doing this one pretty slow. half a glas of wine, whispering every phrase over and over as im typing so i can hear the meter like i always do, and now im thinking i wont submit comment because its not a very interesting comment. another sip of wine. looking at my other dayjob computer. another sip of wine. stoic facial expression. grey shirt and jeans. havent shaved in a few months. havent gotten a haircut in 6 months. brown eyes. look of consternation at the keyboard as im typing this with my larger than average fingers. cut and pasted entire comment into notepad so i can refresh without losing the comment. continuing the comment in notepad. just read the entire response so far. boring. makes me seem clever or pretentious. look at how clever i am, im being meta. mood escalating into intense cynicism that nothing in the world is interesting and a disappointment in the overall creativity of myself and of humanity. another sip of wine.
i disagree. the internet is conversation ultra-humanized. it allows us to get to the root of how and what we think without letting pleasantries get in the way.
i disagree. the internet is conversation ultra-humanized. it allows us to get to the root of how and what we think without letting pleasantries get in the way.
well whats the objective of conversation? is it to connect with people or is it to gather information. the computerness of it makes me think of it like the latter.
well whats the objective of conversation? is it to connect with people or is it to gather information. the computerness of it makes me think of it like the latter.
Simply people are assholes (self included) are feel better being one without the risk of public ostracizing because most folks simply don’t want to believe that they are, indeed, assholes.
Simply people are assholes (self included) are feel better being one without the risk of public ostracizing because most folks simply don’t want to believe that they are, indeed, assholes.
Darby: “We all just look like words.”
Roxane: I love you. If you were sitting next to me right now, I would caress your cheek with love. (Do you know what would also be fun? If we had “sugar day” where everybody has to be sugary-sweet to each other with love for one full day! Like when GIANT did “insult day” but in total loving reverse.)
Darby: “We all just look like words.”
Roxane: I love you. If you were sitting next to me right now, I would caress your cheek with love. (Do you know what would also be fun? If we had “sugar day” where everybody has to be sugary-sweet to each other with love for one full day! Like when GIANT did “insult day” but in total loving reverse.)
http://www.moocowfanclub.com/files/china/face.gif
http://www.moocowfanclub.com/files/china/face.gif
Oh Janey. What an idea.
Oh Janey. What an idea.