I had the pleasure of listening to Leonard Pitts, Jr speak today (the title of this post are his words and this post is inspired by the talk he gave today).  I might have been living under a rock when the Tyler Clementi suicide happened.  I did post some thought on cyberbullying and bullying in general, but this takes the case and is really just one example of how the Internet (which I love) has become a way for hate and ignorance to be spewed without any thought that there are real people involved in these events.

Clint McCance, a school board member of a district in Arkansas, wrote the following on his facebook page on “Spirit Day” when people were encouraged to wear purple to show their support of LGBT folks.

Seriously, they want me to wear purple because five queers committed suicide. The only way im wearin it for them is if they all commit suicide. I cant believe the people of this world have gotten this stupid. We aer honoring the fact that they sinned and killed themselves because of their sin. REALLY PEOPLE.

He responded to a comment on his page with this,

I would disown my kids they were gay. They will not be welcome at my home or in my vicinity. I will absolutely run them off. Of course my kids will know better. My kids will have solid christian beliefs. See it infects everyone.

The Internet, while totally awesome, has gotten out of control in so many ways.  It’s not that McCance and others (just read the comments to news articles in your hometown newspaper) haven’t always been hateful and judgmental people, it’s just that they wouldn’t have said these things to someone, especially if they didn’t know them.  But now…many people don’t think twice about saying something outlandish about someone they don’t even know.  It’s just insane.  I would never think to “flame” someone in a comments section for their opinion–no matter how much I disagree.  I might disagree respectfully with some facts, but I wouldn’t just call them names.  That’s just uncivilized.

According to the “right” Wikipedia is biased to the left and therefore, they created Conservapedia with the tag line “the trustworthy encyclopedia” (Trying not to judge–but really).  I had never heard of Conservapedia before today.  I love that they call themselves “trustworthy” I again am using the example used my Mr. Leonard Pitts, Jr.  Conservapedia says the following as its definition of Liberal

A liberal (also leftist) is someone who rejects logical and biblical standards, often for self-centered reasons. There are no coherent liberal standards; often a liberal is merely someone who craves attention, and who uses many words to say nothing.^[1] Liberalism began as a movement for individual liberties, but today is increasingly statist and, as in Europe, socialistic.

Wikipedia says the following of Conservative

Conservatism (Latin: conservare, “to preserve”)^[1] is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism and seek a return to the way things were.^[2][3] The first established use of the term in a political context was by François-René de Chateaubriand in 1819, following the French Revolution.^[4] The term has since been used to describe a wide range of views.

I don’t know about you, but it’s pretty clear to me where the bias is.  These examples (thanks again Mr. Pitts, Jr) are prime examples of what is wrong in our world and sadly, I see no real change in sight.  The internet has opened a forum for people to speak anonymously (relatively speaking–I don’t have to worry about someone hitting me if I offend them).  I’m not sure where we go from here as a society but we have to teach our children about this new modality of communication and the implications it has and that while we are now communicating with a screen that there are real people on the other end and they are people who feel and love and care.