Can any of you out there remember when the Internet was enjoyable?聽 When it was a rich, deep pool of knowledgeable information?聽 When it was a place of emails, message boards and silly cat videos?
Now those emails are being hacked six ways from Sunday, extreme-right Nazi types have overtaken the message boards, and PETA has a bug up its butt about those silly cat videos where the kitty is being taunted with yarn because they鈥檝e been interpreted as 鈥渟howcasing inhumane practice against a hapless and defenseless creature.鈥�
The Internet is no longer a fun place.
Things have changed on the world wide web, and certainly not for the better.聽 There was once a simpler time 鈥� I want to say somewhere around 2015, maybe even 2014 or earlier 鈥� in which things seemed to be kept relatively light on the 鈥榥et.聽 Well, maybe not 鈥榣ight鈥�, but quite obviously light-ER than they are right now.
It would be impossible to pinpoint just one descriptive word, but if I was forced to, I guess it would be 鈥榥egative鈥�.聽 We鈥檝e just become so damn NEGATIVE as a collective society, especially online.
We make hashtags on Twitter with the phrase 鈥楨nd of the World鈥� because Donald Trump got acquitted.聽 Really?聽 It鈥檚 the end of the world because Trump got off in the end after that debacle of an impeachment trial?聽 This is one of the biggest things that turns me off in the world of 鈥楳illennial Media鈥� 鈥� we鈥檝e adopted such a 鈥�0 to 10鈥� response to everything.聽 It just comes off as downright unhealthy from a mental perspective.
We sling racism at each other back and forth because Colten Boushie and Gerald Stanley are back in the news in Saskatchewan this week.聽 All you need to do is take one solid look at any comments thread in any articles posted to social media, and you鈥檒l see where we鈥檙e at as far as how we conduct ourselves in 2020.聽 This side鈥檚 racist, this side鈥檚 prejudiced, and Lord help you if you present a balanced view of the entire situation and refuse to 鈥減ick a side鈥�.
(By the way, just as an aside, I think it鈥檚 high time that we all move on from that particular case, including us in the media.聽 If we鈥檙e going to be inundated with articles about the saga of Colten and Gerald every February for life, then all we鈥檙e doing is stoking the flames and tearing open old wounds just to gain some website traffic.聽 That鈥檚 poor form.)
We sit back and demand a woman鈥檚 proverbial head on a pike because she committed a horrendous offence over time regarding a local sports group, despite many of us not having any true connection to the local community sports scene whatsoever.聽 In situations such as this, I鈥檝e often found that it鈥檚 usually those who are the most 鈥榙isconnected鈥� from the whole scene who end up being the loudest voices.聽 鈥業 have an opinion, and you鈥檙e all going to be forced to read it over and over and over鈥�.聽 We get it, you鈥檙e mad and you want to stir the pot.聽 You鈥檝e had your say multiple times over.聽 Enough already.聽 More people who were much more impacted are hurting, they鈥檒l be hurting for probably the rest of their lives, and there鈥檚 more to the whole picture than anyone has a right to know.
We act like a mob and call to censor those who may have opposing views and talking points on any number of topics in the world, such as climate change, equality, LGBTQ+ rights, etc.聽 This one is especially frustrating and maddening.聽 When did Canada adopt such communist tactics?聽 Are we not still 鈥楾rue North, Strong and Free鈥�?聽 Do we no longer have a choice whose views we can accept?聽 I鈥檓 not saying you have to agree with someone鈥檚 particular views or beliefs, but man, we have got to STOP preventing others from at least sharing them!聽 Heck, make it a debate and produce counter points to someone鈥檚 original argument on any given topic.聽 We need to practice what we preach when we claim that Canada supports free speech.
Cancel Culture?聽 Don鈥檛 even get me started!聽 The act of deep-scanning someone鈥檚 social media to unearth something insensitive or 鈥渙ffensive鈥� in order to get them professionally and publicly shamed 鈥� boy, what fun!聽 It doesn鈥檛 matter if you鈥檝e grown emotionally as a person and don鈥檛 believe something you may have said 9-10 years ago, or that you regret saying it in the first place.聽 That dirty blonde joke you posted on Facebook back in 2009?聽 Well, we鈥檙e gonna make sure it bites you in the butt in 2020!
In the end, we do all of this behind a screen because most of us wouldn鈥檛 have the gall to say such things to someone in person.聽 If we did, we鈥檇 be asking for a punch right in the face, and most of us would probably deserve it.
Life online was just so much simpler when the best thing on the web was a video of a sneezing baby panda.
For this week, that鈥檚 been the Ruttle Report.
