Did you notice that people, in general, are much more cynical, serious and literal minded on the internet than in real life?

Sure. Because it’s easier to be an offensive and officious asshole on the internet, where there is no accountability.

It’s much more difficult to be obnoxious when someone is looking you in the face.

I think there is quite a lot of accountability on the net. People react to what you write. A lot.

What I mean is, do people tend to overreact, because they don’t immediately catch if you’re being sarcastic, joking, or if you said it in best intention, without ever trying to be an ass?

What @elbanditoroso. You can also see that trend is becoming increasingly rife the public arean as well—in print, in the media, political press conferences and town halls, “presidential” oration, debates, and certainly in what passes these days as humor. Inevitable. Sad.

It’s becoming frequent with actual human interaction, too. People are developing this “I know mah rights and fuck you,” attitude.

I’m a cynical asshole in real life, I just pretend to be nice in person.

^^^ Perfect customer service rep!

I think it’s incredibly easy to dehumanize people on the internet, so, yes, I agree with your perspective.

^ Whose perspective?

@Sneki95 yours, sorry. I meant that I think because we can’t pick up body language and tone and expression that it favors a less personal type of interaction.

I think people often feel free to speak their minds on the net, due to the perceived anonymity. This is both interesting and often depressing. It makes you wonder while seeing strangers walking down the street. Is he one of those who secretly harbor murderous thoughts about all liberals? Is she one of those who secretly yearns for those interesting fetishes?

I like my IRL life. The internet can give me the wrong impression about what is really trending at the moment. I live among people who rarely do the net due to expense and poor technology. It’s nice to live around people who are basically two decades behind.

The internet is like a letter from home. Crazy home. It reminds me of an old Dylan song:

Praise be to Nero’s Neptune, the Titanic sails at dawn
Everybody’s shouting, “Which side are you on?!”
And Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot fighting in the captain’s tower
While calypso singers laugh at them and fishermen hold flowers
Between the windows of the sea where lovely mermaids flow
And nobody has to think too much about Desolation Row

Yes, I received your letter yesterday, about the time the doorknob broke
When you asked me how I was doing—was that some kind of joke?
All these people that you mention, yes, I know them, they’re quite lame
I had to rearrange their faces and give them all another name
Right now, I can’t read too good, don’t send me no more letters no
Not unless you mail them from Desolation Row