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heyzeus wrote:

docellis wrote:I know I am going to sound like a pie in the sky idealist, but:

The hate in the comments on facebook are so egregious that I think the whole world might be asshats.

Most of the people here make me think - no - we are the majority, we are normal and we are what most people are.

But we aren't.

The vast majority of people seem so full of hate they could fuel nuclear weapons.

This is why every year I pledge to stop reading comments sections on websites.

Do you know who comments there? People like my dad. Old. Retired. Nothing but time on their hands to listen to talk radio and Fox News. Grew up in an era where white men got everything they wanted, and everyone else "knew their place." The world is now scary to them. Gays can marry. Feminists demand things like equal pay. Hispanics, at least in Texas, will be the majority within a few years. And black people have always been scary to them, and now "they" allowed one of them to be PRESIDENT.

These people have lots of time to comment on your daily newspaper's website. They're too cowardly to say things like this to your face, but the anonymity and lack of interpersonal barriers of the internet allow them to say it freely. There are a lot of people like this, but they're dying off. And they're marginalized, and they know it. Their viewpoints are no longer the accepted mainstream of America. They're angry because of that loss of privileged/exalted status. Ignore them. Let them continue to be angry and continue to be relegated to the closet (oh, irony!) and continue to die away.

Think about it this way: Once upon a time, not long ago, the Klan was a public organization. They had elected officials who were members! Police officers publicly took part in rallies! Now, they're a shadowy backwoods group if inbred degenerates who nobody wants to be associated with. That's the direction America is moving, ever so slowly, but it's happening.

heyzeus wrote:

docellis wrote:I know I am going to sound like a pie in the sky idealist, but:

The hate in the comments on facebook are so egregious that I think the whole world might be asshats.

Most of the people here make me think - no - we are the majority, we are normal and we are what most people are.

But we aren't.

The vast majority of people seem so full of hate they could fuel nuclear weapons.

This is why every year I pledge to stop reading comments sections on websites.

Do you know who comments there? People like my dad. Old. Retired. Nothing but time on their hands to listen to talk radio and Fox News. Grew up in an era where white men got everything they wanted, and everyone else "knew their place." The world is now scary to them.

slide_into_first wrote:Just because there are a lot of Obama hating asshats doesn't detract from the fact Obama is a corporatist militaristic asshat himself. And I'm probably your dad's age or close to it.

Freed Roger wrote:

heyzeus wrote:

docellis wrote:I know I am going to sound like a pie in the sky idealist, but:

The hate in the comments on facebook are so egregious that I think the whole world might be asshats.

Most of the people here make me think - no - we are the majority, we are normal and we are what most people are.

But we aren't.

The vast majority of people seem so full of hate they could fuel nuclear weapons.

This is why every year I pledge to stop reading comments sections on websites.

Do you know who comments there? People like my dad. Old. Retired. Nothing but time on their hands to listen to talk radio and Fox News. Grew up in an era where white men got everything they wanted, and everyone else "knew their place." The world is now scary to them.

My in-laws are not asshat commenters, but they do overreact to 24/7 news cycle. For my Mother-in-law, it's not even right wing outlets - it's the "Today Show" shaping her views, from Ebola medical waste!, to fires in the west, to bad weather on the great plains.

Back in their day, the world was going to a hell-in-the-handbasket too - Vietnam, pollution, high marginal federal tax rates, crime, plane crashes, shootings, and the Mideast was in turmoil etc etc. But back in their day, they were too busy to notice and the news was filtered for them. When they had "breaking news!" it was actually breaking news - like a major political leader killed, or a plane crash.

Now that they have time to follow it - everything is breaking news!, at least to them...and whose fault is all this madness?

This internet thing is too much for some people's sensibilities.

"Mean world syndrome" is a term coined by George Gerbner to describe a phenomenon whereby violence-related content of mass media makes viewers believe that the world is more dangerous than it actually is.

Freed Roger wrote:

heyzeus wrote:

docellis wrote:I know I am going to sound like a pie in the sky idealist, but:

The hate in the comments on facebook are so egregious that I think the whole world might be asshats.

Most of the people here make me think - no - we are the majority, we are normal and we are what most people are.

But we aren't.

The vast majority of people seem so full of hate they could fuel nuclear weapons.

This is why every year I pledge to stop reading comments sections on websites.

Do you know who comments there? People like my dad. Old. Retired. Nothing but time on their hands to listen to talk radio and Fox News. Grew up in an era where white men got everything they wanted, and everyone else "knew their place." The world is now scary to them.

My in-laws are not asshat commenters, but they do overreact to 24/7 news cycle. For my Mother-in-law, it's not even right wing outlets - it's the "Today Show" shaping her views, from Ebola medical waste!, to fires in the west, to bad weather on the great plains.

Back in their day, the world was going to a hell-in-the-handbasket too - Vietnam, pollution, high marginal federal tax rates, crime, plane crashes, shootings, and the Mideast was in turmoil etc etc. But back in their day, they were too busy to notice and the news was filtered for them. When they had "breaking news!" it was actually breaking news - like a major political leader killed, or a plane crash.

Now that they have time to follow it - everything is breaking news!, at least to them...and whose fault is all this madness?

This internet thing is too much for some people's sensibilities.

"Mean world syndrome" is a term coined by George Gerbner to describe a phenomenon whereby violence-related content of mass media makes viewers believe that the world is more dangerous than it actually is.

stlouie_lipp wrote:Dick Vitale really shows his ass here. That's too bad. He really was a big part of my sports fandom back in the day.

http://deadspin.com/dick-vitale-deliver ... socialflow

Tourists are once again getting into trouble in Italy, with two American women caught carving their names into Rome’s Colosseum.

The Californians, aged 21 and 25, snuck away from their tour group on Saturday and began scratching their initials into the amphitheatre with a coin. They managed a “J” and an “N” around 8cm high, before taking a selfie with their handiwork.