Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Chat Rooms: The Devil's New Playground

12.13.05 - If you have visited a chat room on the Internet at least once and happened to waltz into the wrong place, you probably learned what it is like to stare evil in the face.

I'm talking about getting "flamed," the situation where dozens of posters gang up on you and take out all of their lives' frustrations on an unsuspecting passerby.

It's easy to do, because it involves no consequences. People hide behind their screen names and their monitors and spew hatred and hostility like there is no tomorrow.

The point is, you find yourself confronting people with whom you would never, ever associate in the real world. Cyberspace can make you do stupid things like waste your time arguing with children and low-lifes that are essentially recluses with no social life to speak of, and who are largely illiterate.

I was flabbergasted at the sheer anger, cynicism and hostility I had witnessed recently at such a forum. Not to mention the endless time those people wasted on senselessness. For the most part, they talked about nothing and felt they were making the world a better place.

Is this a reflection on our society at large? I think not. We'd like to think we have more to offer as a people of the most powerful nation in the world—but beware the dark corners of the Web, because you never know when pure evil will rear its disgusting head. And you may just turn out to be the meal it hungers for.

Happy surfing!