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Searching for diamonds in the mines of YouTube #MIM
A multiplicity of ways to get ‘Pwned’ in the comments section.
So, you hit the “post” button on the youtube comment page and only later did you find out what you were in for. Within four minutes, a person named “vanderweelk” replied to your statement with a lengthy, heated opinion and expressed conviction that your statement was seditious, prejudiced, and evil.
What next? Did you ignore him? Was your comment so insincere that you were not willing to defend it? Could you walk away from what you said without regard to the possibility of error? Were you stating your opinion on the original discussion topic because that topic challenged your self-image, and did so in a way you were not willing to explore? Were you not willing to defend your point of view in front of anyone who would later read this comment page and, seeing your cowardice, agree with “vandeerweelk?” Would it have helped humanity for you to engage with him in the search for enlightenment? Was he not worthy of intellectual debate?
Ok, so you replied. You took a deep breath, checked your emotions, and eliminated personal biases and assumptions. Then you looked over the merit in your opponent’s statement and pinpointed several errors. You typed out how his argument was based upon non-linear thinking and, after re-examining his thought process, found a logical deduction clearly missing. After offering a modest correction, you re-explained your point of view and then, in a show of good faith, finished by taking into account what you learned from him. You hit the “post” button again and felt confident that appreciation, fellowship, or a more rigorous philosophical debate would ensue.
Three new people replied (“superhot,” “n0pr0bz,” and “gr1mreeperz”). They filled up your email inbox. They all sided with “vanderweelk.” One of the newcomers did not speak English except for several politically incorrect words. You looked at the other arguments and tried to repeat the process of replying to each individual, yet for each new reply you gained a new opponent. And “vanderweelk” never replied. Did you…
This entry was posted on Monday, June 28th, 2010 at 7:11 pm and is filed under Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.