The Internet is a dangerous place. It is one giant, nonexistentparty where everyone has just enough to drink so that theirinhibitions are gone, but not so much that they are incoherent.
Case in point: hotornot.com.
Hot or Not is like Internet crack. You can always look at justone more photo. It only takes but half a second to anonymouslyjudge one more person on the basis of that person's inability totake a picture. You can spend hours on that Web site. I have.
What is truly fascinating about hotornot.com is the obscurecross-section of our culture that it represents. The site isentirely voluntary. Have you ever asked yourself why people choseto put themselves online for judgment?
Naturally, there are the attention whores. These are the girlsin undergarments and the guys posed with requisite crotch rockets.They put themselves online because they know they are beautiful andthey want to be reminded. They have no interest in who actuallysees them online. I hate these people.
Then, of course, there are the people searching for love on theInternet. I've traveled this road before; it is littered with roadkill, land mines and panhandlers.
This is the group of people I find most troubling. For whateverreason, each and every one of these people has failed at meetingthe perfect mate via normal human interaction. They feel they needthe Internet as a middleman to engage in contact with other Homosapiens.
More and more people are failing at basic human interactionevery day. It is a dangerous disease. I dare call it the newmillennium epidemic.
How eager are we to hide behind that computer screen? It startswith AOL Instant Messenger. A phone call is dangerous; the subtleinflections in your voice could give away your inner wants anddesires. It is much safer to communicate to your friends which baryou will be meeting at by sending them a nondescript instantmessage.
But why stop there? Why go with friends to a bar to meet newpeople? That could be awkward. How much better is it to browserandom pictures of people on the Internet and then anonymouslycommunicate your desire to meet with them? That way, you don't takeany risks. Risks are bad.
Besides, Web sites like hotornot.com conveniently summarizeevery important trait a human being could possibly have in 100 to250 letters. We need not be too specific or honest, however, in ourself descriptions. Broad terms such as "sexy," "crazy," "hangingout with friends" and "breathing" are ideal if you wish to meet theone and only person destined to be your lifelong love.
Sickening.
Lawmakers, church officials and parents always complain aboutthe moral decay of our society. They blame rock music (a social artform), video games (most often a group activity) and rampant sex(the best of which involves more than one person) for our society'sdecay. All of those are highly social. Nobody is blaming thedesocializing of our society on the Internet, though. Maybe that isthe real problem.
Is this bothering you too? Instant message me. Maybe we can talkabout it in a chat room or something ... a/s/l?
Write to Mouse at bbmcshane@bsu.edu
visit www.classicalgeektheatre.com
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