Friday, September 08, 2006

Lowest Common Denominator

Jon Henke documents blatant racism at Raising Kaine....

Josh, I thought you stood for more than this when we met in person. I guess posting on that website lessens ones character just a bit.

More on this here...The Mason Conservative

And here....Richmond War Room

And here....Shaun Kenney

And here....From On High

It all makes me wonder why toupees aren't flipping over at NLS

NOTE:
From the comments comes this thoughtful reply. One that I feel should be elevated to this update because I don't want it missed by those that may not open the comments below. Here's Charles;
It's not that it lessens the character. TO the degree RK is what it is, character is revealed when you join in to start.

However, to be fair, it's the impersonal nature of the net that I think has lowered the discourse. Of course, there's always been some harsh stuff, but most people didn't see it, and if you paid to get it out you would get trashed for being so negative.

With the internet, a candidate can dissappear (like Webb has) and have his minions spread any sort of lies and slander they want, with almost complete protection "It's the web, I can't control it".

Couple that with the human nature to sink to visciousness when not confronted with real person-to-person feedback, and you have a recipe for the disgusting display that was, say, the Webb/Miller campaign.

The worst thing is that, once trained on the web to be oblivious to how crass and inappropriate your comments are, this same self-centered communication is now spilling out into the real world. People who frequent the internet and take part in discussions tend to say more outrageous things, and I used to say "would you say that to the person's face"? But now many of them WOULD.

But still, think about how often you have read something that was completely off-the-wall, and then you read someone post "wow, when we met in person, you were such a nice guy". That's because in person, we remember that we are part of the human race, and that we are communicating with other real people who have value, and brains, and can think.

On the web, the same people act like the people they are attacking have no soul. They will destroy a man, without regard for the fact that they are destroying a man, just because they don't like his politics. They will hurt his family, attack his children, and not think twice about it.

And since there are others of like mind, these posters of evil get positive feedback, leading to sites like DailyKos.

This happens on both sides of the aisle. However, because left-leaning philosophy is more about feelings, and thoughts, than about facts and reason, the left-wing blogs tend to be more vitriolic.

Another explanation for that obvious fact is that the left is out of power, and therefore more prone to lash out. Because other hate groups which are not left, like the skinheads, but who are also powerless, also post in the same vitriol and hate. And a few conservatives had some pretty harsh words when Clinton was in power.

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