205 thoughts on “i’d love to change the world but i don’t know what to do”

1. On the meta- level, please notice how often the “nice” commenters toss around asshat, douchebag, dickbag, and a host of similar words without considering that those language choices might be part of the problem. I don’t wanna go all slippery slope, but it is something to meditate upon.

   1. Nicely said Phaedra 🙂

      There is a cultural trend to be belligerent and hostile. I call it the homeless syndrome. If you visit homeless culture on the streets, you will see the yelling, aggressiveness, cursing, and violence they have toward each other. Each one learns to act this way in order to protect their belongings and their boundaries. It’s important when someone else is crossing your boundaries to send a strong message that they will be dealt with strongly if they do not back off.

      To counter this (without going into detail) others can take the steps to show good intentions, and love.

      In regards to behavior in social media traffic, I believe there are a few other factors at work here:

      A. As the world infrastructure puts a phone or computer into the hands of every human being on the planet, more people are getting access to the social networks, and most of the newbies have little experience with interacting in a mature, productive manner. Plus, they probably feel empowered with perceived anonymity.

      B. A weak Ego and a rampant Id that make an aggressive force, especially in males. People with a weak ego have a juggernaut desire to be right, or to be seen as being right, clever, of value, etc. This puts ‘winning’ above having a productive learning experience; therefore, if they feel they are not ‘winning’, they will resort to sabotage, character attacks, and other antics to take out the opponent. Controlling and subduing your adversary satisfies that primal urge to win.

      C. Few people on this planet have a good understanding of how their own minds work, and how limited each of us is in our ability to conquer the moment. We don’t address all the various programming that has led each of us to where we are today- the programming that affects our reactions, beyond our control. Many people feel this lack of control, but don’t know why. They don’t investigate it, and they don’t face it and come to terms with it, probably because all the media around us keeps convincing us that we are in control, or at least should be, so when things don’t go our way, we feel stupid, or inadequate… and tend to lash out in response.

      D. Too many people feel they don’t have what they deserve, and too many more don’t feel loved. Show them some love. Even when someone else who is in a discussion with you starts to go off and belittle you, curse at you, disrespect you… rather than follow their lead, say something to invite them back, like “I’d rather have a cool discussion with you, bro. I respect your opinion.” Also, during the conversation, before it gets to that point, make a strong effort to not put anyone on the defensive, no matter how clueless or mean you think they are. Help them feel they are being heard, even if you don’t agree with them.

      I’ve done some really dumb things in my life, and I wanted to know what led me to that. Talk about empowering, everybody would benefit from taking that journey.

      1. regarding poing a

         https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_of_Gyges

         thx

2. Hi Wil,

   I am a Jr. High teacher. Sadly many of your observations are correct. However, kids learn by example, I hope you realize what a good influence you are in the world of the Internet. I have several students who are serious gamers. They all understand ‘Wheaton’s.Law’ and agree with it.

   Don’t give up!

   Kathleen

3. Get off my lawn you young whippersnappers!! A joke that sadly has a lot to say.
   I think people in general have changed due to so many aspects.
   kids nowadays really have no clue what fun is. They habe parents who are busy and they arent being taught famoly values. Most fas don’t even eat meals together and have conversations . I am not trying to bash the youth for its a huge problem. They have the world at their finger tips via online. They dont have to get dirty and use imagination. LoOK at the toys. They do everything for them. Our world needs more imagination. These days if a kids a dreamer he is add on and on. As for us parents??? We need to go remember what it was like to have silly fun again . Play in the rain and laugh too loud. We’re too busy..all of us too busy. I love that my kids play at least top and aren’t afraid to be silly. I had stage 3 Cancer and it gave me pause. I enjoy life a lot more these days because I realized life’s too short. Roll the dice a d take what come and make the most of it. AND I’m happy to say my kids learned with me. They are 22 and 25 and I am proud. You should be too because you have a legacy that will be with them forever will. Remember that 🙂

   1. Sorry about typos on a new phone

4. Judging by what you’ve told us, I’m glad I only visit stackoverflow.com , wilwheaton.net and my gmail…guess its a case of the smarter the devices, the dumber the people.

   PS you’ve managed to make at least one person less of a shitcock with your rants (me), so keep it up dude

5. I think that I can relate to how you feel. I used to to be one of those people who regularly said awful things 9n the internet, and I’m trying really hard every day to get away from that. It makes me an angry person, and I don’t like that. Depression is hard enough without wilfully fueling it’s fires.
   I’m trying this thing where I either approve and encourage, or keep quiet and it makes me feel better.

6. I don’t you’re the only one at all, Wil. I see many people (especially famous types of one stripe or another) making similar points in various places about the Net. People want to retreat into more closed, more controlled, safer enclaves…yet they also realize that in doing so they lose part of what makes their online lives so awesome.

   I don’t really know the solution, but the problem is definitely something that seems to be in the air.

7. For real? Kids are rude, crude, and obnoxious on their best days… you were one once, remember? So how is it that all of a sudden you are just noticing this?

8. I’m on reddit quite a bit but I usually stick to the more friendly subreddits and even in my neck of the woods, things have been getting nasty. For example, I read a thread that devolved into people telling each other to drop dead, not to reproduce, etc., because they disagreed over whether an episode of a TV show was good or not. The thing is… I’m pretty sure they weren’t kids. I’m pretty sure they were adults. I think a lot of people hide behind user names or whatever and put little thought into the very real hurt they can cause others. Sadly, this isn’t restricted to immature teenagers.

   1. I know how you feel, Wil. And unfortunately, it’s absolutely not just kids, though I do think kids need some kind of training in owning their own words and using kindness. I’m sure summer vacation hasn’t helped.

      But I absolutely see behavior in adults which is reprehensible, and caused by silly rifts – often about TV. I don’t understand how things like that can inspire hate, but I think part of it is, people, kids and otherwise, are allowing their identity to be formed by certain things. Whether that politics, TV, MRA, feminism, a television show, the ships involved in that television show.. And because they allow their identity to be so bound up in whatever that thing is, ANYTHING said against about thing (even a very real fact) is perceived as a threat against them personally. And they come back with an attack, rather than just accept that person feels that way or try to attempt civil discourse.

      There are so many people who NEED everyone to think the way they think and like the things they like and if you don’t you’re automatically a three-head monster who is disposable and deserves hatred.

9. Even articles in popular games magazines are coming out referring to people as obtuse shitslingers, and those are written by adults. I think it’s the crude generation that has grown up which is showing itself in all its unadulterated glory.

10. Because I’m trying really hard to make the world a better place for this generation, and if the behavior I see online from them is indicative of their norm, I’m not sure it’s worth the effort.

    It’s worth the effort.

    And secession is not an option.

    I suspect you’re blowing off steam and you don’t strike me as the type of person to walk away. The Internet is a battleground like any other. And, of course, there are entire networks of greenwashing, whitewashing, guerilla marketers, shills, scammers, quislings who collect a paycheck to sour and diminish this medium. They want and need for this collaboration to be viewed as a toxic toilet, menacing, and vile. A haven for criminals, pedophiles, terrorists.

    A lot of money is being spent to accomplish this.

    The Internet either becomes the greatest tool for subjugation and abuse or it becomes the greatest tool for solidarity and reform. Or… more likely the battle swings back and forth for as long as we walk this earth.

    Surveillance, labor, environmental, gender, freedom of thought, dissent, incarceration, war, sexuality, whatever. Battles are won, but the wars never end. Best to commit to the struggle and not lament our reality.

    You’re on the side of the angels (but not the Angels) and we appreciate that. There’s no Elba for you.

    I appreciate your entertainments, but you’ve earned my respect through the often controversial positions you take. That’s your legacy.

11. As someone else pointed out, the internet is a new form of media. It is also highly segregated by generation, unlike previous forms of media. An entire generation is growing up on the internet. It will take a while for the whole thing to get normalized to the rest of society.

    Also, if you know Strauss and Howe’s generational theory, you’d realize that much of this kind of thing goes in cycles. The Lost Generation was considered a bunch of little shitheads, and indeed it was the first generation that saw such a quick and massive rise in social, political, and economic problems. We are in another era of destabilization and change, although no where near as bad as that earlier era.

    BTW that earlier era was a transition from small rural farming communities to mass industrialization and urbanization. It was a social breakdown. It took some generations for people to adapt to those changes and create new social norms. Relevant to the internet generation, it was the Lost Generation that grew up with the problems that was the major force behind dealing with those problems and building a better society.

    With the internet, people talk about the problems of anonymity. People worried about the same thing with urbanization, where people were much more anonymous than in small rural towns. I’d keep this kind of thing in perspective. Historical context is good for that purpose.

    1. nice

12. I think this is more than just an internet phenomenon. It’s also certainly true in politics and in life in general. Its just easiest to see on the internet. I suspect however its one of those things that will eventually reach a breaking point and something will happen to cause some kind of change. What that will be and how much of a change I can’t claim to know though.

13. Honestly, I think the majority of why people today, especially young people are not, um, great people is because our society is socialized to be beholden to technology and the system, rather than other people. This is started at birth: we have a high cesarean rate, low breastfeeding rate, terrible postpartum practices (including unpaid maternity leave of twelve weeks–possibly less if working for a company that doesn’t meet the criteria for it), little to no supplementation for childcare, and even more often for the latest generation, having two parents that have to work full-time all the time. We don’t have the time and resources to raise kids ourselves. Our schools are focusing more and more and test scores rather than actual education, which also leaves less time for teachers to support those who are lacking support from home.
    So America is currently producing people who are more often happier staying at home ripping each other to shreds on the internet than out in the world making it a better place because we’re socialized to relate to technology and not other people.

14. Speaking on behalf of my generation, I sincerely apologize for the minority, yes, minority group of young people who think it is cool or funny to be offensive and annoying on the Internet. Having belligerent opinions while safeguarded behind anonymity is the quickest way to grow a pair.

    However, I am also a little tired of some people blaming everything as a generational issue. The values of today’s youth partly stem from the values of the generation that raises them. Most people our age are mature enough to realize that we don’t need to broadcast our opinions about everything to everyone and we are a little tired of older generations accusing us of being egotisitical or superficial. Instead of forming an opinion about today’s youth based on the comments you read online, posted by a skewed group of people, i recommend you focus instead on the general positivity of the world offline. That may sound naïve and idealistic but hey, apparently that’s another stereotype about our generation 🙂

    1. Speaking as a member of the generation above (or, more probably the generation above that ) I think that’s a damn fine idea.
       Thank you for suggestion it. 🙂

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