As we are all aware, SC is no stranger to the internet bloodsports seen so prevalently in this information era. The flames of drama give light and heat to this forlorn corner; a blood supply preserving the life of a community that only thrives in hypertension, and quickly fades in hypotension. This dependancy on drama keeps the wheel turning, but only due to what this online setting allows as a consequense of its nature. Apply the same penchant for beligerance to any physical adult setting excluding a prison yard, and you get a situation that is unstable and apt to fall apart at any time. Keep in mind that I say adult setting because this type of dog eat dog dramafest DOES occur quite often in child settings, namely a mostly female high school cafeteria table.
I think that perhaps, SC (and alike websites) are the perfect petri dish for this kind of sentiment and environment to cultivate. Both for what users are able to view of themselves and of others. Now in real life we are likely a quite complex, perhaps even embattled person. But, nuance is boring and thus, we throw it out the window and subconsciously (or consciously) select the traits we want to have on full display and convienently cut out what we do not want simply because we CAN. We do not know these people that well, we put in our little cartoon character-esque avatars onto our little square boxes, we use false handles, we are in a sense, more in control or our identity online than we are of our real life ones. So we put these elements together- the exhaggerated character traits, and avatars, the handles- and at that point we may as well be on the cast of an adult swim cartoon.....
and that's EXACTLY what others will see as well. Now, sit and ask yourself- how many of you cried when Kenny died in South Park numerous times? Nobody! Because he wasn't human. He was scripted by a writer to be outlandish, insane, and humorous. And SC users, are much like scriptwriters for their own personal characters themselves. So, when you inflict harm on a feller SC-er, or watch it happen to somebody else- it's hard to feel bad for them for the same reason- they were a written up persona and that lack of humanity, an uncanny valley persay- made it very hard to feel any empathy and thus, we fail to comprehend the full human before our eyes due to the script they concocted. Theory of mind; which is the knowledge of other people as a sentient feeling with their own unique processes- is therefore voided in the wake of this percieved inhumanity and henceforth, the insatiable slugfests; user on user, man on man and man on women in a vicious fight to the top of the chain..... are almost seen as..... fun. And as long as everybody keeps up their scripts and continues the repetitive self-flanderization that simulates inhumanity that need not be empathized with- that shall be the nature of this place. I mean, think about the personality cult of forum members when put up against the reality of their everyday lives-
TPG- The legendary shitpost extraordinaire child genius OR the socially awkward autistic boy who turned to a literal pedophile when friendship eluded him elsewhere.
Xadem- The shartmaster shitposter in chief OR the depressed man in rural Belgium struggling with substance abuse.
CS- The insufferably disgusting narcissist OR the very mentally ill women who seriously needs help.
Turquie- The self contradictory autistic denial sperg women OR the overweight and socially underdeveloped girl turning to the web for attention whether negative or positive.
OR...
Me- The narcy, occasionally spastic aspergian who likes to write long ass posts OR the (self-admittedly) mostly socially uninterested yet bored too much man who, despite being on the cusp of huge and exciting changes, STILL has to come on here and write tomes and talk shit to alleviate his insufferable lack of stimulation outside his (very wonderful) marriage.
Who are you more likely to want to ruin? The firsts, or seconds? I'd take a chance at the latter.
Marinate on all this for a bit, and leave a genuine idea in the comments below.
