Civility in "The Other World"

In our discussions about the articles, "Why I Like Vicious, Anonymous Online Comments," by Matt Seitz and "Make Our Ugly Discourse Better: Join the Civilogue," by Jeffrey Weiss, the idea of personal accountability played along the margins. While we centered around the ideas of how people are currently being mitigated by online discussion sites (linking to profiles, flagging abusive users, reporting systems) we never really got to the harder question of why people are choosing to communicate in these ways. I don't claim to know the answer either, but find that to be the more intriguing line of questioning, as we see this level of toxicity seep through the seams of the internet into our interactions with those we come face-to-face with in life. Maybe it comes back to the Golden Rule we all learn in Kindergarten, "Do unto others as you'd have done to you."

As an English teacher, my job is to guide you back to the place that connects all of this to writing. Here are a few thoughts I had over the course of our various conversations:

• All of this takes place in the realm of written communication. The online life is growing and expanding, as this report illustrates, we spend a quarter of our online life immersed in social networking, which necessitates both reading and writing to participate.
• Much of what we read and contribute to these online discussion or blogs is anchored in argument and personal opinion. To respond to or create an argument, we must be savvy to the rhetoric that surrounds the issue, as well as create an articulate and educated response in order to be taken seriously.
• Part of being a successful writer is being able to recognize and adjust to the shifting audience, purpose and context of a given text or writing task. This is similar in some ways to the idea that Seitz forwards about "the mask." That we all have different "faces" for different groups is assumed; being able to hold an awareness about when the context shifts and what that means about your choices as a writer, is what matters in the development of your "writerly" identity.

As well, I said I would share the link to the NY Times article about internet trolls. If anything, it reiterates the message, "Don't feed the trolls," in that it illustrates the varying levels of ill intent that this subgroup holds. And here is the article that correlates trolling and drunkenness.

Recently, I read this article about Tyler Clementi, the Rutgers student who committed suicide after being unknowingly videoed via web cam by his dorm roommate. Throughout the article, the journalist is able to track the communication between these two college students in stunning detail. Yet, even with all of this minute information, in the end I felt like there was still something deeply unknowable about these people. It challenges Seitz when he says the online self is the true self.

I keep having this reoccurring thought about how the internet is the closest thing we have to a literal parallel universe--one that holds everything this world does: images and videos of landscapes and street views, families, romance, conversation, libraries, universities, theft, commerce, entertainment, etc. Yet, as a society we haven't really caught up with the magnitude of this universe in all of it's potential good and imminent bad. Just like you lock your doors at night; check your passwords for good measure. If someone tries to provoke you online, walk away/log off. Use your words well, whether you're in this world or the Other.