I'm always fascinated by the degree to which the internet enables communication of all types and qualities to thrive. There are whole blogs dedicated to puddles, for example. If you are a puddle afficionado, there has never been a better time to be alive.
The downside to this fast-and-easy communication is the proliferation of idiots on comment boards. Anyone who's ever scrolled down to read the comments below a YouTube video knows this all too well. YouTube might be the single biggest collection of asinine, moronic statements in the known universe.
It's not all bad though. Metafilter is a community blog that charges a one-time fee of $5 for the right to be able to post on its forums. The result is that most of the comments come from people who actually have something of interest to say, and real discussion of issues is actually possible.
Enter Thatsaspicymeatball. This site compiles the latest comments from Metafilter and YouTube on an hourly basis, then displays them side by side. The result is hilarious and sad at the same time. Here are some sample discussions.
Metafilter:
"The fact that we can't leave the Tibet thing alone long enough to watch the very symbol of a neutral playing field run past is pathetic."
"That little "Tibet thing?" Since 1950, an estimated 1.2 million Tibetans have been killed by the Chinese. Sorry, that's not a "thing" to me. I'll give up a "symbol" for those people."
Youtube:
"i love the song but hes kind of fat :D "
"STFU GAYS"
Wow.
(link courtesy of the Freakonomics Blog)
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4 comments:
Bryce,
I'm glad that you wrote this post. I have contemplated on numerous occasions writing a post about the sad and sordid state of internet comments, and the general void of intelligent and insightful discussion on the internet.
The one-sided skew towards idiocy of comments on the internet is so disheartening. Can THAT many people really be so poor at communicating and so bankrupt of insight? Hopefully all the smart people just don't want their comments lost in a sea of comments like "UR A FAG" and so they abstain from posting them. Hopefully.
STFU ass.
Touche.
Seriously though, that's a good point. Sometimes I look at internet comments and get really depressed about the state of human discourse, but there is a sliver of optimism in the idea that there are plenty of smart people out there who just don't want to bother trying to yell above the din of l33tspeak and poorly spelled, unpunctuated profanity... I hope.
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