U.S. Senate leaders have reached a deal with the White House on an unprecedented $2 trillion stimulus package to battle economic freefall caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The Senate deal would send $1,200 checks to most American adults, with another $500 per child. It would create a half-trillion-dollar program to loan money to U.S. corporations […]
From now until the novel COVID-19 Virus Pandemic has been resolved by having run its course and is no longer killing individuals, I will be limiting these posts to short comments on the inaction, ignorance, racism, misogyny, egotism, and totalitarian implications for supranational capitalism of the captured government of the United States. D. C. Weiser
Both the Republican and Democratic Parties are dead. A rogue President openly mocks the rule of law. A rogue Congress openly forsakes its parliamentary function of representing the public welfare and interests of all citizens. A rogue Supreme Court openly neglects its duty to seek Constitutional justice in its decisions and has elected instead to […]
Psychological warfare emerging from World War II combined with a “command-and-control” model of communication to dominate education, research, journalism, media, military, intelligence, and philanthropic funding sources, exercising a commanding influence over U.S. policy, domestic and foreign. A major outcome of all the above, Advertising Jargon and Strategic Marketing campaigns replaced the traditional language of moral […]
When behind the computer screen, it’s very easy for people to engage in behaviors they would never do in real life. The anonymity of the Internet offers a shield—some people feel as if they can be aggressive, and in some cases abusive, toward others because they don’t feel as though they are hurting a real person. One strange thing about the Internet is that while we are incredibly connected digitally, we are very disconnected interpersonally. The fact you can’t see the people you interact with online makes it easier to “other” them. When we “other” people, we don’t necessarily see them as real people with real feelings, and that makes it easier to disconnect from the reality that our words can cause actual harm.
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Thank you, Angelina, for a sensitive and intelligent response to my post. I think you are correct in asserting that the internet and social media disconnect many if not all of us–or not all of us to the same degree–from our sense of reality. What worries me is the way in which your account of the “strange thing about the internet” may be seen to offer trolls and other inflictors of online abuse an excuse for bad behavior.
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