Slapfights, on the theory of.

[leahbobet]

Y'know, I think I've located the glitch in our metaphor system; the semantic breakdown:

The internet is not a battlefield, upon which a war is fought. Against an enemy. Who requires no-holds-barred force.
The internet is not your house, which needs to be defended. From, again, some implied faceless mob of attackers.
The internet is not a square mile of territory which one can be driven off.
The internet is not a community which one can be ostracised from.
You cannot win the internet.

When you stop looking at it in those terms? You'd be surprised how unnecessary it all becomes.

Comments

[michaeldthomas.livejournal.com]

*g*

If anything, it's a stage with a bunch of bit players fighting to get into the spotlight.

[pnkrokhockeymom.livejournal.com]

I think that's quite sensible, what you've said there. You can see the grains of that sort of thinking in quite a bit of it, actually. Also, replace internet with "fandom" and many of them work too! (And I'm sure someone would say, "Well you can be ostracized from fandom"--but "fandom" is a pretty big, pretty broad community).

[wldhrsjen3.livejournal.com]

:D Yes! I wish this could pop up any time you log onto any social networking / community / public board space on the internet. :D

[abidemi.livejournal.com]

*scratches head*

But I could've sworn I've seen people win the Internet (http://qwantz.livejournal.com/104142.html) plenty of times.

[lenora-rose.livejournal.com]

This.

[squirrel-monkey.livejournal.com]

Also: you cannot get PTSD from internet, because arguing with people on the internet is not the same thing as being shot at.

[madwriter.livejournal.com]

You know, I'd actually started thinking along these lines over the last few weeks without actually putting my finger on what I was thinking. Thanks for doing it for me. :)

[beth-bernobich.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this post.

[kathrync.livejournal.com]

The Internet is the place to get your fair share of abuse.

(Soundtrack: "You Can't Always Get What You Want" by the Rolling Stones.)