Have Any of the Events of the Past Year Changed How You Think of Human Nature?

[anna.]

Yeah, me too, Anna. As a people, we seem to fall short in several categories. Morality. Intellectual honesty. Courage. And on and on and on.

It's just so discouraging. Not that I'm any saint, either. I'm left wondering if it was always this bad and I didn't know it until I saw how it was intensified by online interactions, or if the internet made it worse.

I'm curious, Anna, is the watercolor in your Avatar your own work?

Yes it is my own work, but I'm embarrassed to say it's just a digital scribble I made using my finger on an app on my phone called Paper.

 

[Thief]

the greater majority of people possess a pragmatic and abiding respect for truth.

nope...

my fellowman is a head nodding suck up

has a coil spring for a spine

and the ones with gumption......don't know how to use it

 

[Thief]

Yes it is my own work, but I'm embarrassed to say it's just a digital scribble I made using my finger on an app on my phone called Paper.

nice touch

 

[JustGeorge]

People do not change. Did WWI or WWII changed them?
What option, JustGeorge? (What is brewing?)

I do not have to mingle much. I am a homemaker, so I don't have to contend with the commentary of coworkers, or be subject to negative aspects of the general public terribly often.

 

[Thief]

Science shows that 94% of people are below average intelligence.

omg.....it's getting worse

I thought it was declining.....but....

omg

now we have to reset the average
just so no one gets left behind

see ...,,,IQ and the workplace
by Jordan Peterson

 

[Revoltingest]

omg.....it's getting worse

I thought it was declining.....but....

omg

now we have to reset the average
just so no one gets left behind

see ...,,,IQ and the workplace
by Jordan Peterson

At this rate, everyone will be below average.

 

[Aupmanyav]

Yeah, except Revoltingest.

 

[Revoltingest]

Yeah, except Revoltingest.

I'm already only 70 IQ on my best day.

 

[Sunstone]

It's just so discouraging. Not that I'm any saint, either. I'm left wondering if it was always this bad and I didn't know it until I saw how it was intensified by online interactions, or if the internet made it worse.

That's a big question. I've been wondering the same thing for at least the past two or three years. While I'm sure the answer is not a simple "yes" or "no", it's hard to gather information that might provide insight into it. At least for me it has been.

I did come across a fascinating little bit of history that, I think, helps to put the general 'rudeness' of the internet in context. Going back centuries, the Venetian Carnival (if I recall) began sometime in the 1200s. I don't know when the revelers began wearing masks, but at some point they did. The masks made them all but unidentifiable -- in effect, about as anonymous as anyone on the internet today who wants to be anonymous can in fact be anonymous.

The almost immediate consequence of everyone wearing masks during the Carnival was that all manner of rudeness and even many types of crime spiked. Everything from routinely shoving and pushing people around to masked gangs of men who began going about raping women in the side streets! Basically, the anonymity of the revelers created the same sort of lawlessness you see in so very many sites on the net today. Interesting, no?

Yes it is my own work, but I'm embarrassed to say it's just a digital scribble I made using my finger on an app on my phone called Paper.

It has a very professional look to it. Would you happen to be a professional artist?

 

[JustGeorge]

That's a big question. I've been wondering the same thing for at least the past two or three years. While I'm sure the answer is not a simple "yes" or "no", it's hard to gather information that might provide insight into it. At least for me it has been.

I did come across a fascinating little bit of history that, I think, helps to put the general 'rudeness' of the internet in context. Going back centuries, the Venetian Carnival (if I recall) began sometime in the 1200s. I don't know when the revelers began wearing masks, but at some point they did. The masks made them all but unidentifiable -- in effect, about as anonymous as anyone on the internet today who wants to be anonymous can in fact be anonymous.

The almost immediate consequence of everyone wearing masks during the Carnival was that all manner of rudeness and even many types of crime spiked. Everything from routinely shoving and pushing people around to masked gangs of men who began going about raping women in the side streets! Basically, the anonymity of the revelers created the same sort of lawlessness you see in so very many sites on the net today. Interesting, no?

Honestly, the internet has shown me more cautious and caring people regarding the pandemic than my locale.

Both sides are more forcefully vocal online, but actions speak louder than words.

 

[Irate State]

A little bit.

At the beginning of the pandemic, I thought people's best natures showed through. As it went on, it seemed those 'natures' got uglier, and uglier, and uglier.

Its now at a point for me that, when the recommendations on social distancing are lifted, I have no desire to come out of quarantine. If that's what 'civil society' is, leave me out of it. And I'm somewhat blessed that I have that option...

So much yes. I feel like I have nothing to do outside.

 

[Sunstone]

Honestly, the internet has shown me more cautious and caring people regarding the pandemic than my locale.

Both sides are more forcefully vocal online, but actions speak louder than words.

That's an interesting point, JG. I'm originally from a small town of about 2,300 people. I'd say they were relatively speaking very polite and civil to each other (at least on the surface -- or in public). I was discussing that with someone I grew up with once, and he pointed out that they had to be polite and civil to each other. Why had to be? Because in that stable of a small community, if you made an enemy of someone, you made an enemy for life, and one who most likely could have quite an impact on you through such means as gossip, etc.

Put differently, there were very consequential controls on people -- controls that were strong deterrents to them from various anti-social behaviors. But I don't see anything like those controls most places on the net -- except, perhaps, in the Wordpress blog community. Every blog owner has at their fingertips two or three different ways to ban a 'trouble-maker'. You can go years reading blogs and not come across a harsh or snarky comment from anyone that's directed at anyone else.

 

[danieldemol]

I think watching Trump get voted out increased my optimism for humanity

 

[Sunstone]

I think watching Trump get voted out increased my optimism for humanity

I honestly wish I could say the same for me, Dan. It didn't though. At least not by much.

 

[crossfire]

A little bit.

At the beginning of the pandemic, I thought people's best natures showed through. As it went on, it seemed those 'natures' got uglier, and uglier, and uglier.

Its now at a point for me that, when the recommendations on social distancing are lifted, I have no desire to come out of quarantine. If that's what 'civil society' is, leave me out of it. And I'm somewhat blessed that I have that option...

Yeah, I don't know if I can adjust my lifestyle any further towards reclusiveness, but I'm open for suggestions!

 

[Sunstone]

Yeah, I don't know if I can adjust my lifestyle any further towards reclusiveness, but I'm open for suggestions!

Have you tried taking up poetry as a hobby? It's an excellent way to get folks to avoid you.

 

[anna.]

That's a big question. I've been wondering the same thing for at least the past two or three years. While I'm sure the answer is not a simple "yes" or "no", it's hard to gather information that might provide insight into it. At least for me it has been.

It's something that's fascinated me for years as well. I don't know if anything is ever simple when it comes to people, really, but there's quite a bit from the realm of social and group psychology that can provide a framework of predictable behaviors, one being just what you've brought up below.

I did come across a fascinating little bit of history that, I think, helps to put the general 'rudeness' of the internet in context. Going back centuries, the Venetian Carnival (if I recall) began sometime in the 1200s. I don't know when the revelers began wearing masks, but at some point they did. The masks made them all but unidentifiable -- in effect, about as anonymous as anyone on the internet today who wants to be anonymous can in fact be anonymous.

The almost immediate consequence of everyone wearing masks during the Carnival was that all manner of rudeness and even many types of crime spiked. Everything from routinely shoving and pushing people around to masked gangs of men who began going about raping women in the side streets! Basically, the anonymity of the revelers created the same sort of lawlessness you see in so very many sites on the net today. Interesting, no?

Yes very. In the scenario you give, it's also about the de-individuation of a person swept up in the crowd, but the individual anonymity of being online and being able to be as nasty as one wants without suffering the personal repercussions from one's societal group has been so damaging. Also the line between real life and online life is so much more blurred... a lot of people are so immersed, at what point is their online life indistinguishable from their real life?

It has a very professional look to it. Would you happen to be a professional artist?

Not at all, whatever hint of professionalism (or art, for that matter) that you may have found is purely accidental. But thank you.

 

[anna.]

Yeah, I don't know if I can adjust my lifestyle any further towards reclusiveness, but I'm open for suggestions!

Always choose the self checkout at the store - one less human to interact with.

 

[Irate State]

I learned that my neighbors were having dinner parties and friends get-together every weekend at the height of contagions. My sister was also entertaining quite often in the weekends.
In short, I learned that people who I assumed were like-minded, having a minimum of good will towards the safety of others was just in my mind.
I learned that I've been washing my hands deficiently all of my life.
I'm filled with quiet rage.

 

[crossfire]

Always choose the self checkout at the store - one less human to interact with.

Self-checkout is closed at 3:30 am when I shop. However, if I bag my own groceries, I don't have to interact, and it gives the checker a break as well.