Why Is There So Much Hate On The Internet?

Although it’s never been a problem in our own community (thankfully), something that I’ve been putting a fair amount of thought into lately is the vitriol that exists in many comment sections and forums around the Web. When you go to the supermarket, most people wouldn’t feel like they are surrounded by pure hatred. In a comments section? Lately, it’s almost inevitable.

I almost never post comments on stories I read, but I do often read through comment sections to gain some insight into what others think about the topic-at-hand. In the past couple of months, I’ve either begun to look at a lot more comment sections, or the hate people have has in general increased, because it’s sticking out like a sore thumb more than ever.

I first noticed odd behavior at CBC.ca, when a “thumbs up / thumbs down” system was implemented in the comments section. This allows readers the option to give a comment their approval or disapproval, and because it’s anonymous and doesn’t even require a sign-up, there is much abuse to be had. Someone offering their condolences to a father who died while saving his children from drowning? Yup, expect a few thumb downs. I have found what I’d call 100% perfect posts to be thumbed down, so it’s clear to me that people love being a rebel, even though it’s while remaining anonymous.

Credit: Natalie Dee

Compared to the comments section found within CNN.com stories, the problem at CBC couldn’t be much more mild. If the story has to do with politics, celebrities or race, you can be sure that there will be some comments involving hate, racism, violence or some other thought that would go against convention. Why? To feel better about themselves? I’m not too sure.

In a thread I read dedicated to the death of Amy Winehouse this past weekend, about 30% of the posts had derogatory comments against the singer. One even referred to her as a ‘crackwhore bitch’. No one seems to care about the “if you don’t have anything nice to say…” adage anymore.

An article published at the Guardian this past weekend covers this subject in great detail, and with the input of some folks targeted by this raging hatred, and others resulting from experiments or scientific reports, it’s been deemed that more often than not, it’s the cloak of anonymity that causes people to act out-of-character, or at least become an exaggerated example of themselves, when posting online.

The concept is called deindividuation, where in certain situations, you are more apt to act much differently than if you were in a normal situation, such as being outside around a bunch of people. This is a concept I tend to believe, because I’ve not heard many stories of celebrities having their life threatened in front of their face, but see such threats all the time in a YouTube comments section, along with other rather unflattering things.

This is a subject I could write about for hours, but I’d love to see what you guys think. Is the hate being spewed around the Internet an actual problem? One that can be ignored? Should laws be put into place that would kill anonymity on the Internet?