Today I witnessed Escalation of Emotional Stakes on the net in a particularly colorful manner.
Ethan wrote this post in his blog, somewhat alarmingly titled “Sexist Assholes on Ye Interwebbe.” He was recounting his experience being a member of the community called themaxx: [this might be offensive]. It’s one of those places where members post found or original pictures they find interesting, and then have other members rate them and comment on them.
Ethan’s post gathered a few flames at mindlace.net; and, looking over his shoulder, I read the bunch of comments that got posted on themaxx.com directly. Many were flames. (You have to be a member to view the comments, so I don’t have the link to that.)
Then I get a new comment to a post I made in January, by one Bertram Livestock who, like a knight in shining armor, warns me away from my friend mindlace. I posted a lengthy reply to him there, and you know, it’s some of the best stuff I’ve written lately. So go read both Bertram’s comment and mine; I assure you, it’s worth it. I’m still giggling at the power of Google [which is how I’m assuming he found me].
I find the whole discussion really interesting. You’re right, in that people are interpreting it as a defense of one person, rather than a broadly based criticism. That’s a tough thing, and (I think) a risk you run whenever you use a single specific example to illustrate a larger behavior pattern. I find it interesting because I have a habit of jumping to the defense of people who are attacked, even when they don’t deserve it (although, as I said, I don’t think that’s exactly what E was doing, here).
What’s sad is that any site that allows pictures like that is bound to degenerate into sexism by virtue of the net. It’s a mathematical truth: everything is eventually reduced to the lowest common denominator. All the same, I’m glad people like you and E exist – it keeps me from giving up on the internet altogether and moving to a cabin in Fiji. Damn you.
;-)