Flying off the Handle

Well, really this isn't about flying off the handle so much as it is about people's complete lack of understanding regarding online visibility. I know I've said it before, and I'll probably say it again, but what is with these people?

More often than not because of the glories of Web 2.0 (and if you can list them all you win a free trip to Tahiti) there are comments sections on everything now. And in those comments sections there will undoubtedly be one or more people with really bright ideas about the world. I'm talking about people who go to Amazon.com and, in the review section for the new Harry Potter book, rant and rave about how the Trilateral Commission and the Iraqis are conspiring to take over Uzbekistan (I was deliberately trying to be as outrageous as possible, but I've realized that you can't be more outrageous than these people). It's not news; it happens all the time.

And more often than not, these people say things which I certainly wouldn't. I'm not talking about their views, which I usually don't hold. I'm talking about epithets, slurs, cursing, et cetera and so on. It's a fact of comment sections: they seem to bring out the worst in people.

Then someone else comments on the previous commenter, pointing out just how idiotic they sound. This, of course, sends the original commenter into a spiral of, "Oh, I'm just tired, no one was supposed to take it seriously, I didn't know anyone was reading this."

I didn't know anyone was reading this, either, which apparently gives me carte blanche to yell, rant, curse, call people names, and generally make an ass of myself. Then, when someone reads it, I can act all surprised because I don't seem to understand the concept of, "the Internet." See, things I write and post on, "the Internet," can be accessed and read by anyone. It's a shocking thing to realize, I know. More shocking than the language I tend to use.

What is with these people? See, I told you I'd say it again. What makes them think that a very public forum is a good place to spout off? And not just spout off, but inform the world of their deepest secrets, reveal things I wouldn't tell my identical conjoined twin, and generally just misunderstand the concept of "public forum?" Who are these people? Where do they come from? How can we get them to go back there?