The hate speech and malformed opinions posted below the stories about the Ft. Hood shooting on the Lansing State Journal Web site are appalling.
Racism, bigotry, stereotypes, etc. — that stuff is awful. But what’s worse is that some of these people believe that they have the “right” to anonymously express these opinions online.
The reason is these people have Internet Disease.
Internet Disease started off as a Facebook/MySpace/Match.com thing, where men and women would use their most flattering photo for their profile to try and hide perceived physical shortcomings. Then, Internet disease mutated into a genre of photography: the photos of the girls out at “the bar,” all posed and smiling, their faces washed out in flash. (There’s also the male version, where the dudes are posed holding beers, out at “the bar,” looking tough in their striped shirts.)
In these instances, Internet Disease is pretty benign.
But now every newspaper, blog, and TV and radio station — trying to attract eyes to their Web sites — has a “comment” section. Thus, Internet Disease has mutated into its most ugly form yet: the anonymous micro-blogging fish brain strain.
Just picture some diseased jerk out there, sitting alone in the dark or in a cubicle, ripping off a hateful, grammatically and logically incorrect “comment” on an LSJ story. After posting their comment, does he/she smile like after a satisfying meal? Do they go and tell their friends, “I told those Muslims real good!!!” Do they think that the little turd they just laid will cause the greater Lansing area to conform to their views?
Luckily, there’s a cure for Internet Disease: under each comment on the LSJ Web site is a little button you can click to report abusive, vulgar, or racist comments. Of course, the anonymous bigots complain that their freedom of speech is being infringed if their comments are removed — but they’re just feeling the sting of more civil-minded folk. The people at the LSJ do a good job at quickly removing offensive and wrongheaded speech from comment sections. If you see hate speech attached to this unfolding Ft. Hood story, squash it.