apparently, compassion and the internet don't mix

While I'm not a practicing journalist, per se, it is one of my undergrad degrees. So, I'm all about free speech and expressing one's opinion. The best thing is, anyone can do it via the magic of the internet (see this blog).

But why, when we cross the line into the "world wide web" must we leave common decency at the door? I am all for dialogue and challenging people's ideas but what happens to people's compassion when they log in to comment on, well, anything. Blogs, youtube, twitter, anything. It's hard to communicate what you're actually trying to get across without facial expression or tone and the other person is JUST reading the words. So, I try and be extra nice. Add an extra :) Unless I'm trying to be sassy/feisty but even then I don't mean anything by it and those who I choose to communicate with know that (for the most part).

But that is certainly NOT the case with most people. The newspaper here in Lawrence, the Lawrence Journal-World, is notorious for its nasty comments/commentors. Maybe it is not any worse than other newspaper's site, but for a rather open and friendly community, it certainly does not reflect appropriately.

Recently (in the past 3 months, I'd guestimate), a woman who is a stripper at a local club started (anonymously) blogging on the website. She has written about how she began stripping, interesting occurrences on any given night and the politics of those who work in a strip club. It is certainly an interesting point of few for a profession that clearly isn't you typical every day job. Yet, the number of awful comments she has received is appalling. People who are (also anonymously) commenting waste no time passing out judgment and being just plain rude and mean because they can behind the cloak of the internet. Honestly, shouldn't you only express online what you would actually say to someone's face?

In my mind, if you don't agree with a subject or what someone chooses to do with their life, that's fine. But move along, there's plenty of other content on the web to keep you occupied.