Skip to main content

Internet thuggin': Words as a Weapon

I've been reading a number of blogs in the past few days. Some are so very well written that they make me never want to write another word anywhere.  Even with opinion being the main muse of the blogger, they were thoughtful in their choice of words.

On the flip side, there is something about the internet that prides people with the opportunity to be mean-spirited, hateful, and pushy that leaves you feeling bullied.  Having an opportunity to voice your opinion in the manner we in the US is a privilege that we take advantage of and maybe even slowing being taken away as we speak because of our arrogance.  Yes, we have the RIGHT to blog and experience this new way of expression anyway we feel but I'm just curious why use it to harm, hurt, or cause chaos?  Clevawords is an extension of Rhonda, the author.  What you see here is some aspect of me.  I expect for you to see it that way so what should I take from bloggers who insult their readership or insult certain segments of the community?  Please don't say its not YOU.

Many use the internet and conversations via the internet as a way to be who they can't or couldn't be in person.  There is a certain empowerment given to someone when you know there maybe no direct repercussions in response to the words we choose.  We see it in internet bullying or something they use to call it on Paltalk - internet thuggin'.  I think I'm always amazed why people go this route when trying to communicate and share their point of views.  There is a difference between a declarative statement and a insulting one.  The same way you learn there's a difference in being assertive and aggressive.  Aggression is cowardly, in my opinion, even though I, myself, have been on that side of it before.

The internet thug will also tell you that YOU, the receiver of the aggression, shouldn't allow the words of another harm you.  This is what Americans have become overall.  We no longer, if we've ever, take responsibility for OUR own actions but look to blame the other person[s] for their responses to our actions. Its truly cultural nowadays.  Its a part of the fabric of today's society so it gets played out online as well.


I'm not a "shock blogger" so maybe I just simply don't understand that way of expression if teaching and informing others about whatever the topic. I don't want my words to be harmful or hurtful but viewed as sincere challenges to a way of thinking and life.

No thuggin' from  me.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Confessions of a Recovering Misogynist" by Kevin Powell

In the past few weeks, I've had the opportunity to have very brief conversations with Kevin Powell. Its very interesting to speak with someone with similar passions for community service. As someone who has been very transparent on her blog, I find this essay by Kevin refreshing. I just happen to see this on Facebook as someone posted it many months ago. Thanks KP. I AM A SEXIST MALE. I take no great pride in saying this, I am merely stating a fact. It is not that I was born this way-rather, I was born into this male-dominated society, and consequently, from the very moment I began forming thoughts, they formed in a decidedly male-centered way. My "education" at home with my mother, at school, on my neighborhood playgrounds, and at church, all placed males in the middle of the universe. My digestion of the 1970s American popular culture in the form of television, film, ads, and music only added to my training, so that by as early as age nine or ten I saw females, includ...
Post a Comment
Read more

For Colored Girls: Seeing Red

After being very vocal about being Tyler Perry a less than favorite choice to direct an adaption of Ntozake Shange's "For Colored Girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf" or better known now as "For Colored Girls", I watched the movie feeling empty. I've seen myself in the colors of orange and green . I've empathized with the browns in my life. I know yellow and I know blue. Then there is RED . I could spend time examining the issues I had with the movie. I could also celebrate the power of dynamic words used to express OUR stories of various hues, depths, and struggles. The color red, Janet Jackson's character, disturbed me. This development of this character reeks of Perry's own personal agenda. He wanted to talk about the down low situation. He wanted to bring in HIV and so he did.  In spite of Janet's less than wonderful acting abilities, I was interested in how her story would play itself out. I heard about her. Th...
Post a Comment
Read more