Colombo, Peace and Conflict

“Hey Groundviews, keep that censorship button on mate”

So came the earnest appeal by “Ryan”:

Author : Ryan (IP: 60.231.53.136 , CPE-60-231-53-136.qld.bigpond.net.au)
E-mail : [email protected]
URI :
Whois : http://ws.arin.net/cgi-bin/whois.pl?queryinput=60.231.53.136

Hailing from Queensland, Australia, Groundviews received over 30 caustic submissions from “Ryan” today, some of which went as follows:

Sanjana… time for you to suck dick again.
CPA should be hung, drawn and quarted like the turds they are.
Sanjana, you’re a fucking moron mate.
CPA must be flushed down the toilet like the vermins they are.
CPA sucks, Sanjana Hatotuwa sucks dick

Clearly, though “Ryan’s” use of stock phrases, a demonstrably limited imagination and a grossly truncated vocabulary vitiates his / her ability to really insult, it is symptomatic of a larger & growing malaise of online communication, especially on blogs.

As David Pogue, the New York Times’ Tech Columnist avers:

The real shame, though, is that the kneejerk “everyone else is an idiot” tenor is poisoning the potential the Internet once had. People used to dream of a global village, where maybe we can work out our differences, where direct communication might make us realize that we have a lot in common after all, no matter where we live or what our beliefs.

But instead of finding common ground, we’re finding new ways to spit on the other guy, to push them away. The Internet is making it easier to attack, not to embrace.

Maybe as the Internet becomes as predominant as air, somebody will realize that online behavior isn’t just an afterthought. Maybe, along with HTML and how to gauge a Web site’s credibility, schools and colleges will one day realize that there’s something else to teach about the Internet: Civility 101.