💾 Archived View for midnight.pub › replies › 4328 captured on 2022-06-04 at 02:47:18. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
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< Drunk ramblings @ 2 in the Morning
Hello ~inquiry.
I am now fully awake so I can give a coherent answer. I definitely see where you are coming from and I do believe that it is important to hold individuals accountable for their behavior. Excuses like, "I-it's not my fault! The internet made me do it!" definitely does not work. I used to act out online as well when I was younger until I matured some more and finally came to my senses. So, to some degree, yes. It does come down the individual.
Though, with that being said, I think we have reached a point in history where it's hard to deny the hand capitalism plays in all of this mayhem. People act the way corporations see as "marketable"(whether it's good or bad behavior) because they know if they do it, they will eventually get famous and be rewarded for their behavior ($). Why? Because they bring traffic and attention to the social media platforms that they're on. As long as it brings high engagement, the algorithms and companies will push you into the Limelight and reward you with more money you could ever imagine. I am already thinking of a couple of famous "e-celebrities" right now, but I hope you see what I'm trying to say. At this point it is a "collective behavior", because so many people are acting this way it has been normalized in our modern society to a certain degree. Individuals do not exist in a vacuum, especially not in this day and age where everyone is connected through the internet. We are influenced by one another and the culture that surrounds us and commercialism plays a big part in that believe it or not (at least in America it does).
The main thing that separates the people of today vs yesterday is just how integral technology and the internet is in our lives now and our behavior because of it. No one is forced to be online, but a good 90% of the human race is (I'm making a rough estimate, but the point is almost everyone, especially in 1st world counties use the internet in 2022.) online and we use it for many many things. Work, school, etc. Very important things that one needs to survive in our modern world. Using the internet is almost 2nd nature to us now. To suggest one can and should just unplug to avoid being monitored and spied on by corporations and the government is borderline impossible to do at this point. Our devices should not be monitored and bugged by these people in the first place. And while I do have to admit that capitalism has made life more convenient I can think of a lot of very very bad consequences of capitalism (child labor in 3rd world countries, pollution, harsh working environments, contaminating waterways/water supply, etc., etc.) People criticize capitalism a lot for good reason! Not just to complain or blame someone else for their problems.
Nicely thoughtful, and I can't disagree given in what I believe to be the context of your point of view.
Can't tell you how glad I am you've found this place, as I love reading you!