I don't know why this surprises anyone. Just look at the average internet forum, it's enough to make you weep.
I've found that the further removed a person is physically from a stranger, the ruder they feel they can get away with it. When I worked as a sales clerk, I'd occasionally run into a rude person but most were either neutral or quite polite and pleasant. On the phone, while working the answering service, I'd say 3 out of 5 were actively rude while the remaining 2 would be neutral. I once had a guy chew me out about the price of coffee when calling a plumbing office about the pipe to his coffee machine and say to me "You'll sit there and talk it you *&%@&& because I PAY you to take it!"...
On the net, it's even worse, we only see pixels and the worst of us tend to forget that there's a human being behind those words on the screen (I say "forget" rather than "ignore" because I haven't QUITE lost faith) and people have now decided that its a "sport" to start arguments and shock and insult people. Trolling is now considered an "art" in some corners...and that's just sad.
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I've found that the further removed a person is physically from a stranger, the ruder they feel they can get away with it. When I worked as a sales clerk, I'd occasionally run into a rude person but most were either neutral or quite polite and pleasant. On the phone, while working the answering service, I'd say 3 out of 5 were actively rude while the remaining 2 would be neutral. I once had a guy chew me out about the price of coffee when calling a plumbing office about the pipe to his coffee machine and say to me "You'll sit there and talk it you *&%@&& because I PAY you to take it!"...
On the net, it's even worse, we only see pixels and the worst of us tend to forget that there's a human being behind those words on the screen (I say "forget" rather than "ignore" because I haven't QUITE lost faith) and people have now decided that its a "sport" to start arguments and shock and insult people. Trolling is now considered an "art" in some corners...and that's just sad.
In closing I would like to link to this:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19/
Possibly the wisest thing I've seen in recent years.