IS A2K the wave of the future?

Forums: able2know, Internet, a2k, Community, Naval Gazing
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Even though Robert has put a lot of effort into taming a2k, and people like msolga complain about all of the sharp elbows being thrown around, we insist on being a rowdy bunch. But maybe we are normal, maybe what we do here at a2k is what most people will soon be doing....

Quote:

Gentzkow and Shapiro found that the Internet is actually more ideologically integrated than old-fashioned forms of face-to-face association " like meeting people at work, at church or through community groups. You’re more likely to overlap with political opponents online than in your own neighborhood.

This study suggests that Internet users are a bunch of ideological Jack Kerouacs. They’re not burrowing down into comforting nests. They’re cruising far and wide looking for adventure, information, combat and arousal. This does not mean they are not polarized. Looking at a site says nothing about how you process it or the character of attention you bring to it. It could be people spend a lot of time at their home sites and then go off on forays looking for things to hate. But it probably does mean they are not insecure and they are not sheltered.

If this study is correct, the Internet will not produce a cocooned public square, but a free-wheeling multilayered Mad Max public square. The study also suggests that if there is increased polarization (and there is), it’s probably not the Internet that’s causing it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/20/opinion/20brooks.html?hp

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Type: Discussion • Score: 2 • Views: 2,390 • Replies: 28

@hawkeye10,

Quote:

Internet users are a bunch of ideological Jack Kerouacs.

What did he call me ? A Jack Kera-ak...Kero...What did he call me ? And what is an idiotillogical ?

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The internet does allow people to behave badly . . . perhaps more so than they would face-to-face.

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@plainoldme,

Quote:

The internet does allow people to behave badly . . . perhaps more so than they would face-to-face.

even if true you would need to convince me that this is a problem. I am pretty sure that the lack of civility here is a direct blowback from the coerced political correctness imposed in real life. The internet "misbehavior" is a correcting mechanism, which should not be interfered with.

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@plainoldme,

It is voluntary....

1 Reply

@hawkeye10,

That is an elaborate excuse. "Coerced political correctness???!!!" Are you aware that our recent forebears had stricter rules of conduct than we do now? What you see here is largely some immature people acting out . . . some of them, I suspect, because they are isolated and lonely.

BTW, this forum is much more civil than a few others I can think of, including the AARP forum and the notorious statement section following any quiz on Facebook.

1 Reply

@Ionus,

Are you talking about rudeness being voluntary or is that a non sequitor?

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@plainoldme,

plainoldme wrote:

Are you talking about rudeness being voluntary or is that a non sequitor?[sic]

Tho u have been corrected,
u persist in spelling non sequitur incorrectly, Professor. Its a good thing that u r not a Latin teacher.

David

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@plainoldme,

U can give me as a reference, when u come up for a tenure decision.

David

1 Reply

@OmSigDAVID,

You've been corrected on much more serious matters and yet you persist. So, if your spelling is correct, why didn't my spell check correct mine?

1 Reply

@OmSigDAVID,

Oh, you are so unworldly! I made it clear that I am an adjunct and adjuncts do not come up for tenure. You have to be one of the most ill-informed people I have ever encountered.

1 Reply

@plainoldme,

Quote:

Are you aware that our recent forebears had stricter rules of conduct than we do now?

I dont think so. We had strict rules for social interaction, but we also had respect for the individual and allowed the individual the room to make up their own mind what they believed. We lost this starting sometime after the riots of 67-68. This acting out that we see in some places on the internet is about individuals feeling their oats, after being repressed in real life for a long while.

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@OmSigDAVID,

David, I suggest you reflect on the irony of you correcting other folk's spelling.

1 Reply

@hawkeye10,

A simpler explanation is that people are more willing to act like jerks when they are anonymous.

Your explanation fails Occam's Razor.

1 Reply

@plainoldme,

plainoldme wrote:

You've been corrected on much more serious matters and yet you persist.

So, if your spelling is correct,

why didn't my spell check correct mine?

I suspect that u bawt cheap, inferior spelling software.

David

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@DrewDad,

Quote:

A simpler explanation is that people are more willing to act like jerks when they are anonymous.

there is certainly a lot more going on than that. People do not conform because their conformity can not be compelled so easily on the internet, but we are using the net for more worthy puposes than just as a forum for bad behavior. This is alluded to in the piece in the original link.

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@DrewDad,

DrewDad wrote:

David, I suggest you reflect on the irony of you correcting other folk's spelling.

Bear clearly in mind that I am leading the way from benited ignorance toward the Enlitenment of Correct,
efficient, logical, fonetic spelling (as shud have happened centuries ago),
but DO NOT call me your Savior!!! Don 't DO it!!!

I am much too modest for that.

David

1 Reply

@plainoldme,

plainoldme wrote:

Oh, you are so unworldly! I made it clear that I am an adjunct and adjuncts do not come up for tenure.

O, now I am crestfallen, heartbroken and demoralized! I had thawt so much better and higher of u, Plain!

I am disconsolate!

David

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@OmSigDAVID,

Er.... WTF?

2 Replies

@hawkeye10,

hawkeye10 wrote:

People do not conform because their conformity can not be compelled so easily on the internet

Exactly. That's what I said.

hawkeye10 wrote:

, but we are using the net for more worthy puposes than just as a forum for bad behavior. This is alluded to in the piece in the original link.

Yes, this is true.

Nevertheless, you're theory about why some people act like jerks on the Internet is incorrect.

1 Reply

IS A2K the wave of the future?

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