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An interesting thing the article doesn't mention is the effect of anonymity on malicious gossip. The ability to publish widely and anonymously with such ease is unprecedented. Is it not that society's getting nastier, but that it's so much easier to be nasty and get away with it?

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Surely the ability to be nasty and get away with it encourages nastiness by removing the negative reinforcement towards being "nice", thus making society nastier?

I hadn't thought of it that way. I had thought of it as additional opportunity for the same amount of nastiness to manifest itself.

Reminds me of a line from King of the Hill, when Minh Souphanousinphone is a bit too blunt with Peggy Hill, Minh apologizes by saying, "Oh, I'm sorry, I said something out loud that I should have only thought."

There's a lot more "out loud" when the cost is so low. I half hope it leads to people becoming more critical about who they let get under their skin, and more critical in what they believe from random sources, but I'm not optimistic.

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