Whenever I find myself reading the public comments posted in response to an online news story, I can be equally sure that I'll find myself regretting the choice. It's not just the poor grammar and misspellings, though, they are something to behold (I'll probably spot some in this posting after the fact). It's the lack of civility that characterizes Internet communication.
While I think we still manage to do a decent job of acting decently towards each other in face to face settings, when the Internet is there as a buffer all bets are off. I certainly don't claim to know why that is, but at least part of it must be related to the way the Internet obscures our humanity in the process of connecting us.
When we're face to face with someone, even someone with whom we disagree, we're more likely to engage with the whole person. We don't just consider the opinions but rather the factors that drive them, whether it's their background or economic status.
Just to take one especially contentious issue, some like to paint opponents of the death penalty as out-of-touch liberals untouched by the reality of crime. That reductive approach ignore the millions of people who view the issue through the lens of faith or perhaps have the experience of knowing someone who was wrongly convicted and executed as a result.
As much as we claim to praise diversity in America, the world wide web has made it harder for us to appreciate diversity on an individual level. Without that individual focus to remind us that we're all human, it can be way too easy to treat those who disagree with us as a little less than human.
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