the interweb

Ahhh the internet, one of the seven wonders of the world...wait it isn't?  Well, it certainly should be!  It's definitely more impressive than the pyramids, at least if you ask me.  Why is that you say?  Well the internet is this magical place where you can be what you want to be, free of judgement, regardless of race and no matter what you're into you'll find a group of people who share similar interests and likes.  Or...can you?  Maybe the internet isn't as happy-go-lucky as we think.  As a self proclaimed "internet professional" I can tell you that the discrimination and the discussion of race on the internet are interesting to say the least.

As a frequent visitor and poster on Reddit, a content sharing site with quasi-anonymity (everyone goes by user names rather than real names) I have seen many discussions about race.  The one that sticks in my mind the most was a video that was recently posted that featured a news report on New York teens partaking in a new "game" called Knock-out.  Basically, the teens would run up to unsuspecting strangers and punch them as hard as they could in an attempt to knock the unconscious.  Unfortunately all of the teens featured in the video happened to be black.  This, of course, sparked some rather hateful remarks in the comments section.  Suddenly a video that's intention was to raise awareness about these crimes turned into a discussion about race and discrimination against blacks.  That's the thing about the internet, and especially sites like Reddit where you're hidden behind a username, it only takes one person to make one comment about race and the whole thread blows up.  Couple that with the added security and safety of the quasi-anonymity and people begin to say some of the most disgusting things you'll ever see.  And yet that's the great thing about the internet.  Everyone has the same rights to say what they want.  The right that is used to have formal discussions of race and discrimination where thing are actually accomplished is the same right that is used to post these extremely judgmental and hurtful comments.  That's not to say I support what these people do, cause that's not the case at all (I think closed minds should come with closed mouths), however I do fully support the idea of the freedom of speech on the internet.

The internet is an interesting place, and I feel we still don't know enough about it to consider ourselves experts on it.  I believe that as the internet begins to change and evolve so too will the people who use it.  I like to think that as the upcoming generations get old enough to have proper conversations of race we'll begin to see less and less of the hate and discrimination that we see online today.  We've already started to see a change in acceptance across all levels, none more recent than the signing of the gay marriage bill in Illinois just this Wednesday.  That being said, I don't believe we will ever rid the internet of intolerant and racist people because, well, that's just how the internet is.