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

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

I think it's anything you want it to be and everything you expect, in that paradoxical way a thing can be. Mostly because your choice of metaphor dictates your choice of people you hang out with and venues you inhabit, and the rest just falls out from there.

[deakat]

I first read that as fails out from there, which is, sadly, often the case if you make the wrong choices.

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

I am starting to deeply dislike the whole win! fail! thing. It presumes an arbiter, and it's flippant besides.

[deakat]

It works for me in some contexts, but when applied as a judgment on matters of weight, it usually emphasizes the polarization of viewpoints in a most disrespectful and unhelpful fashion, further obstructing the discussion.

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Yeah, agreed. It's snark, and...well, that doesn't seem to get people too far anywhere.