QUOTE(Moulton @ Sat 12th December 2009, 10:53am)
The Internet also tends to make some people intolerant, rude, and combative. As more and more people engage in episodes of intolerance, rudeness, and combativeness, it lures others into imitating such incivil behavior. On balance, online antisocial behavior grows like a cancer.
It's the same dynamics in either case —
Lowest Common Dumbinator = Lowest Common Dominator
It is not just the instinct to imitate — Monkey See Monkey Do — otherwise people could just as easily imitate the best among them.
The mass action, and the forces that control it, are biased toward the worst that is possible.
That can happen only because people see the worst content and the worst conduct being rewarded.
So they increasingly imitate the worst.
Jon (IMG:
smilys0b23ax56/default/hrmph.gif)