My fellow GaGers,
It was with a heavy heart that i discovered the trolls had won the day. A feature of the site taken off for the single purpose of it hurt others has been brought back simply to do just that--continue to hurt and harm. Many older people have already accused our generation of being too soft and self centered. Of needing the world to treat us like we're special and not being able to cope with life's bruises and the simple fact that not everyone likes us. Yet, while this is sometimes true, I would argue that we as a generation can see a brighter future--where the internet is not a place to be feared or to complain about.
The internet as a utopia of sorts--a place where people can get away from the negativity of daily life and write and connect with others in a space where mutual kindness and respect are adhered to. Where people tend to be the types who would hold the door for others, ask them what's wrong if they seemed down, defend a perfect stranger who they felt was being unfairly bullied. A place where negative minded people who want to spread their negative feelings by being as cruel to others as they are to themselves on the inside would have no interest in being a part of. Where likeminded and different minded individuals could enjoy one another not only in ideas but in socializing aspects as well.
But, of course, the trolls would like their own version of a utopia, which to us would appear as a dystopia--a place where everyone insults everyone, where people have group chats on kik and Skype to gossip and talk about who they do and don't like on the site. to be able to troll a person from take to take opinion to opinion in hopes of making them feel so low they leave the site. Of disagreeing with takes they haven't even read because it's more fun to disagree than to agree. They want the drama, they get on the site for the drama, they get on the site to be negative, they get on the site to hurt feelings. They take pride in not giving a **** To them, it shows power, strength, and autonomy rather than transparent compensating for self percieved insecurities that the rest of us see it as. It is not a coincidence, that certain people on this site are all on very good terms with one another, --this is a place for them to be the dominant ones, they believe. They don't really hate those people in their daily lives who make them feel awful, no, they want to be them.
That is what you get when you give someone who usually has no power to speak their minds or get away with any behavior they want some power--they act like they've secretly wanted to act their entire lives. It's pent up aggression, it's pent up frustration, it's a pent up desire to finally be the oppressors themselves. And so many so called uber mods have, through careful reporting and bonding with those who make such decisions, have attained such a fantasy state for themselves. But, at what cost GaG? At what cost does making this site a haven for the social rejects of life have on those of who honestly come because this site represents a fun place to talk with smart people about dating and relationships etc?
At what cost?
The day is the lost, friends.
And we deserved better.
-pavlove
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