Ah, the newspaper comment board. It sounds like a good idea, freedom of speech and all, but in reality it’s become a forum for venomous bullwhipping, brow beating and harassment – including sexual, racial, political and more. It’s like a Jerry Springer sideshow, with no interest in conversation, understanding or rational discourse. Some newspapers abandoned the utopian ideal once the harsh reality set in: That comments devolve into hateful spittle, designed not to discuss, but to pronounce loathsome and intimidating hatred, which chases away civilized discussion. And that the comments chase away the thoughtful exchange of ideas, information and philosophy.
Add another factor, page views, and it becomes clear that the comment board is a marketer’s dream. Hate mongering commenters return to the scene like arsonists, to gawk at their work and watch it grow and overtake any semblance of a thoughtful exchange. That, meanwhile, fuels both online rubberneckers and hate mongering one-upmanship. It might sound vile, but in marketing terms, it translates to page views and page views are what advertisers want – or, more accurately — the pocketbooks that go with those gawking eyeballs. Hence, the page views — and hatred — translates into dollars and cents, sense be damned.
That harkens back to one of my all-American complaints: Everything, given a corporate opportunity, will become commodified in the U.S. – our healthcare, our military, our prisons, our drinking water, our information. And, left to the open market, ideals will be condensed to profitability without ethical and moral considerations.
(See “The Corporation” trailer just below. And a link to the Web site here.)
The Ford Pinto springs to mind as a real-world cautionary tale: Once Ford realized that their design was faulty and would require an $11 part to protect its drivers from a fiery death trap, the corporation crunched numbers and concluded that it would be cheaper to sacrifice people – and pay their lawsuits – than to rectify the problem. So much for social consciousness. (Click here for more information about the Pinto. Audio news report about Ford’s reckless homicide trial here).
It’s a brave New Digital World. And while experts banter about the ethics and morality of online commenters (I think Huffington has it right, see Poynter article below), I’m drawn to one, saddening, conclusion: The Internet, once touted as a tool for an egalitarian and utopian society that has shed base hatreds, shows, in Technicolor reality, what hearts and minds truly harbor.
Meanwhile, more food for thought below:
-Christy
NPR segment: Comments on Comments
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=32&aid=147167
http://www.superiortelegram.com/articles/index.cfm?id=29516§ion=Opinion
http://www.reporternews.com/news/2008/jul/26/online-comments-out-of-hand/
http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2008/jul/24/cleaning_our_online_comments/
Filed under: Christy Lochrie, Harassment, ethics | Tagged: comments, discourse, ethics, Ford Pinto, free speech, Harassment, hatred, Newspaper comments, The Corporation
[...] reality sets in: Spittle, venom, personal attacks, sexism, racism and more scuttle through the comment boards and snuff out the flame and spirit of honest give-and-take [...]