Ramblings About My Life..

Ramblings #2

I always wonder as to the reason why the predefined notions and accepted standards of civility often break down in cyberspace, as shown by the examples where people lash out at each other with crude language whenever a conflict of opinion occurs in an online forum, or the more experienced/veteran players of a particular game exhibiting a snobbish, arrogant and elitist air when dealing with relative newcomers and even the absolute disintegration of whatever language netizens use to communicate with each other. This is definitely a sweeping statement, of course, for there are people who are not involved in any of the aforesaid behaviours mentioned above - but then again, it is an undisputable fact that many people do act like that in cyberspace. Is it because of the lack of laws in cyberspace to define the accepted standards of behaviour of the people using it? In the real world, there are laws enforced by the authorities of every nation in order to govern the nations' individuals' behaviour in public, whereas in cyberspace, there is no clearly defined piece of legislation to control the behaviour of netizens in terms of civility. Or is it because of the protective shield of anonymity the Internet provides to the individuals who use it? Unlike the outside world where if you suddenly commit an audacious (and probably law-breaking act) like running down the neighourhood naked and everybody sees you - resulting in your fifteen minutes of fame on the 8 o'clock news (and perhaps even a day of free food and lodge in the police lock-up), the Internet provides the cover of anonymity to whoever wishes it when he/she is in cyberspace and hence, a sense of "freedom" to do whatever he/she likes, unshackled by the fetters of identity. Could it even be because unlike the real world, in the domain of cyberspace, there are no fears of reprisals from the opposite party when one is rude to another person save a barrage of words typed on-screen, which can be easily ignored or bounded off the offending person's pride? Words typed and displayed on a computer monitor definitely have less impact on a person's mind when compared to the spoken word, for the spoken word bears inflections of emotions and intents. Furthermore, the spoken word is borne on a medium that can only be ignored with much difficulty - the human voice. Don't believe me on the previous statement? Have you ever noticed that when your parents are unleashing a barrage of words on you, reprimanding you of some infraction on your part, and you doing your very best to ignore them and what they are saying to you, some time after that incident, you can still more or less get the gist of what they are saying? The ability to listen is as a natural to us humans as breathing, and the tendency of attenuating and listening to another human's voice out of the cacophony of our world is another particular trait of us humans. A human's voice is very difficult to be ignored by another human indeed.

The impersonality of the Internet as a communication medium may in some way contribute to the fact that most people are ruder in cyberspace when communicating with one another since they view each other as inorganic entities, as bits and bytes or even as a electronic representation of an individual (which to them, obviously, doesn't carry much weight when it comes to the field of communication etiquette). This bears forth another question worth asking - does the alienation of human traits by the impersonality of technology allow for lax behavioural rules? If the answer is yes, then the past millenia of evolution, cultural growth and the expansion of civilisation have been all for naught. After many ages of an evolving humanity, to which a solid and stable civilisation has been the bedrock for our technological growth, we are devolving into our past barbaric selves once more, albeit a more technologically advanced population than what we once were. For the very foundation of the growth has been us evolving from cavemen with clubs with no concept of civility (I think clubbing anyone who offended you, rightfully or not, was viewed as perfectly acceptable then) to people who understand etiquette (that means no bashing your neighbour in the head with a club just because their stereo is several decibels higher than your liking). For us to degenerate into brutes once more (even if it's just online) due to the advent of the Internet seems highly illogical. It shouldn't be happening, but it is, even right now. Even more perplexing are the examples where people tend to have a completely different personality online - and not in a good way. I know quite a few examples where in real life, a particular individual is a polite and unassuming person, but once this person logs into the Internet, you can literally watch profanities scroll across the computer monitor! Of course, some people do use profanities liberally both in real life and in cyberspace, but the real issue here is the generation of a utterly different character (personality-wise) when some individuals use the Internet! Why does it happen? Could it be because that these particular people repress their "impolite" side in real life to present a "clean" facade to the world, but once online, they release the reins and let their alter-ego run free? Is it a pyschological issue, or does the real issue lie with the Internet? I, for one, do not believe that the fault lies with the Internet. Faulting the Internet would be like damning the invention of the gun - many say that the increase in the rate of serious crimes nowadays is due to the unchecked proliferation of firearms, but actually, we should blame the criminals who are using the guns instead of the growth of the gun industry. However, a gun is really a useful device - it allows us to hunt and ensure the security of a nation if it is placed in the right hands! If the wielder of a tool accidentally cuts himself while using it, you do not blame the tool, right? We as the users of the Internet should check ourselves and exercise necessary restraints behaviour-wise so we can act online as how we should act in real life. The non-existence of clearly defined "etiquette boundaries" in cyberspace doesn't mean that we shouldn't be well-mannered online! We should not blame a medium of communication for our lapses in civility - we should instead blame ourselves, for the medium in which the communications took place is inconsequential to our behaviour. We have only ourselves to account for for our actions.

However, not everybody in the domain of cyberspace is rude or offensive. There are people who are patient and polite to you when explaining something to you (instead of "f*** it dude, what a dumbass question! are you a retard or something?") and help you willingly despite getting no benefit to themselves for doing so, and sometimes even at the expense of their own trouble! These people are the true "residents" of the Internet, for they make the Internet what it should be - a utopian, alter-community, undivided by the borders of nations, where each and every individual is equal to the other, sharing information for the benefit of all and unfettered by the issues of gender, age, race and nationality. I have had the pleasure of encountering several of these people in my long usage of the Internet, and after each and every encounter I feel gratified that in this time and age, these people still do exist despite all the moral rot creeping into humanity in our age. And every single time, I resolved to be like them, do to my part to make cyberspace a more enjoyable place to be in by merely being patient and polite in all of my online conversations. I've had people mock me for being overtly polite at times, or even question the reason for my politeness, but I believe that in life, a modicum of politeness is necessary in one's everyday life - the ability to think is not unique to us humans, as many other organisms have rudimentary intelligence, and the same goes for language, but civility is a defining feature of us humans. Without it we might as well be beasts. So please, let's be more polite to each other online. A little bit goes a long way, but the journey to make the Internet a truly utopian domain is a very very long way off. And we might as well begin now.

P.S. - Sorry for the slow update, I was researching graphics cards on the Internet (which one gives the most value for money, which one I can ask my parents to sponsor without them throttling me, which one suits my usage needs, etc etc etc) and "How To Install An AGP Graphics Card". I still have not the foggiest notion of which card to buy until now. Same goes for the installation thingy. (27/7/2005)

P.P.S. - Woohoo! I bought an ATI Radeon 9550GT (128mb DDR RAM, 128-bit, 400MHz RAMDAC clock, 250MHz chipset clock, GeCube chipset) for RM262 at the recent PC Fair! It's quite a bargain if you compare it with an equivalent graphics card, the GeForce 6200 - it's definitely value for money! Now, I'll just have to install it....if only I knew how. (29/7/2005)

posted by yong chen @ 4:02 PM