The Reckless Face of Humanity: Online Communication and Respect

By Shaughn VanGinkel, senior Communications major at Silver Lake College 

It's October 25th, a cool, breezy day at the Spartan Stadium where the crowds are roaring and shouting for their teams to take the field. Enter Michigan State vs. Michigan, a long lasting rivalry to clash once again on the battlefield of the Spartans. Just as the players are taking the field, Michigan performs a rather odd pregame ritual of driving a large wooden stake branded with their name into the soft, rich soil of Michigan State. Each player of Michigan State looks on in brewing anger as the hammer pounds the stake into their field inch by inch. Coach Dantonio cannot stand to see another second of their soil being pierced by another team’s logo and immediately calls out disrespect against their long lasted rivals. This fire lights within the players and the game progresses with Michigan State crushing Michigan in the second half of the game.

The drama involving the stake burns through sports media and launches heated debates between sport debrief specialists as they wonder whether or not the unsportsman-like conduct of Michigan’s pregame ritual is to be tolerated. They go about debating in a civilized manner to see if the situation is able to be worked out between coaches and players.
As this story hits the freedom and public access of the internet; however, that civility immediately decays in the comment sections that are opened for debate once the incident is turned to article format. People of all backgrounds unleash verbal cannon fire on each other as more people log on to view the article.

It absolutely amazes me how quick people are able to retort to freedom of speech with any argument. It doesn't matter what the subject or so called “opinion” is about, because there are many people that ironically use the words “freedom of speech” like a sharpened blade against any equal foe. It feels less like an unalienable right and more of a backup against disagreement, and it happens every single day for the most ridiculous of reasons.

            I can't stand it when I look at the comment section on Youtube or the posting sections of Facebook and witness personal information and harmful grammatical usage being spewed from the fingertips onto the keyboard, and with access of technology becoming easier and integrated into our own brains, the problem only thickens. Respect? Forget about it! It's the freaking internet, right? It's not like you can actually be held accountable for your own verbal atrocities...right? WRONG!

            The greatest sensation we know as the internet has officially become the burial ground of everything you have been drilled on as a child. Respect, morality-hell, even intelligence has been known to take a dive off the face of our humanity once you jump on a popular website. Many seem to have gotten the idea that just because an individual is not directly in front of you, there is free reign to scorch and strip them of happiness in order to fuel your own personal ego. A perfect example of this is the increasing wave of hatred that plagues the religious. I decided to pay a visit to Youtube and look up some videos on “The Amazing Atheist.” His name immediately makes the hair upon my neck sharpen as I scroll through many of his feeds as I knew immediately this man was some kind of pseudo-intellectual thinking he has the world all figured out. Listening to some of his videos, I began to feel proven wrong a little bit. He knows quite a bit about his historical facts, but his common sense seems to be lacking.

He continues on with the video, continuously attempting to debunk and rip apart any idea of religion. I realized then that this wasn’t about debunking any kind of theory; this was just underlying malice candy-coated in the form of a Youtube video. It’s as if the video itself was based on disrespect! With his arguments lacking any real fire power, I whisked down to the comment section to discover horrendous examples of what the ugly face of disrespect looks like. The insults ranged from “godtards” to “atheist f***” and became gradually worse as I scrolled through the feed of the comment section.

Of course “The Amazing Atheist” isn’t the only one guilty of this kind of disrespect. Another youtuber by the name of VenomFangX, a pro Christian channel, possesses recordings and live streams gushing with disrespect against atheists, slandering them and threatening the fear of hell with each and every word he utters. Some of his content is actually so vulgar that his videos get taken down a regular basis just by the Youtube administrators themselves due to their conflicting views and sometimes illegally ripped audio files.

One of his few videos I was able to locate, it's lengthy but his comment sections are the real threat. 

       His comment sections, like The Amazing Atheist’s, are a continuous battleground of numerous different parties unloading their verbal weaponry and unleashing fire on all who oppose their point of view. What’s even worse is the fact that I saw the EXACT SAME insults splayed all over the comment section of Venom as I did with The Amazing Atheist.  Keep in mind, this isn’t some crazy argument about religion or atheism, this is the horrifying reality of people of all backgrounds ripping each other at the throat simply because they all have their own belief system or viewpoints. 

            Many other hot button topics are plagued with disrespect and hatred. In the weeks and months leading up to the political elections, you may have noticed some of your favorite news channels being flooded with political information about what the Democrats, Republicans and Liberals are up to. This is the time of year where I roll my eyes 180 degrees into the back of my head so I don’t have to witness the putrid amount of mudslinging that is burned into every 20 second commercial between airing times. 

        People, this is the new face of humanity. You would think that with a popular news site like Fox News, you would find the comment section to contain writing that is credible and comments that encourage each other as fellow Americans to make the right choice as a team to not only better our nation, but even our allies outside of the border. Instead, you are greeted with the unpleasant, humanistic rage focused on demolishing the opposing party of all of its ideals.

On October 14th an article was posted of Hillary Clinton's speech talking about the educational system and its apparently ineffective methods of being affordable to students. There is absolutely nothing wrong with what Clinton is discussing. It’s an important idea that has been expressed by many for years and for those that are concerned for the educational upbringing of future generations. The main beauty of this article, however,--or rather, hellish experience--is in the comment section as it is with Youtube and Facebook. The comment sections is brewing with insults ranging from “Killary Clinton” to “Hilarity Clinton” and even the common “dumb c***” insult. This is one of the only speeches she has given so far this year and people have gone as far as to already tear apart her name internet wide and news wide. That’s not even mentioning the numerous amounts of people that counteract by slandering the ideals of other politicians when compared with Hillary’s, which can be viewed in the exact same comment section! There are even people insulting each other with remarks that have nothing to do with the actual article itself!

            "Eugene2012" and others appear throughout the comment section writing similar "comments"

              Where does this fueled rage and hatred for others stem from and why is it so easy to wield as a weapon? Honestly, I cannot form an answer for you. Maybe humanity has lost touch with its humbleness and instead prefers to thrive off the idea of ruling with a steel plated ego, or maybe most humans fear the idea of mental anguish and hide themselves in a palace of loneliness and security from others. Whatever the case is, I encourage all of you to look to your hearts and the next time you are writing a song or novel or even when you are about to write a comment on Youtube, for the sake of respect, treat your words like an offering not like a sharpened blade. A respectful word leads to respectful actions, and respectful actions lead to a healed world.

Shaughn VanGinkel is a Radio/Communications Major At Silver Lake College.
His hobbies include singing and performing and is heavily involved within his community of Two Rives and their various festivals.