Ubercool

Rude Behavior Now Par for the Course

August 1st, 2007

“Nasty comments, sometimes even death threats, have become ubiquitous on virtually any site that seeks to engage readers in discussion,” reports USA Today. The publication speculates on what trends could be behind this rude behavior.

Part of the blame lies with our new-found love for interactivity. The blogosphere, which has soared from 100,000 blogs in March 2003 to nearly 94 million today, according to blog-tracker Technorati, provides an easy means for readers to comment, helping the phenomenon surface.

“Ur ugly u suk and u should die,” is a typical comment that appears beneath one of the many videos posted on YouTube. This type of social depravity has led to much discussion, and video responses, on YouTube and elsewhere online.

While the story’s writer, Janet Kornblum, correctly surmises that anonymity is a major driving force behind the growing rudeness of society, this outrageous behavior is actually part of the much larger Casual Ubertrend, which has rendered courtesy a thing of the past.

Anonymity was certainly not involved in an incident that had Faith Hill berating a fan for grabbing her husband’s private parts during a concert at the Cajundome. The incident, captured on video, shows just how brazen society has become:

During a Soul2Soul 2007 tour stop at the Cajundome in Lafayette, Louisiana Saturday, country star Faith Hill had to reprimand an overzealous fan who had grabbed husband Tim McGraw’s crotch, an incident captured on mobile phone video naturally.

Breeding a society that’s less polite and much more aggressive in attitude, the Casual Ubertrend is also to blame for a number of “attack videos” that recently received media coverage.

One video, which recently appeared on YouTube and which shows a young girl from San Mateo, Calif. being viciously attacked by a school mate, caused the despondent victim to abandon high school due to fear and depression.

The Internet has significantly lowered the barrier to asocial engagement by providing an easy way of adding no-holds-barred commentary.

As the above New Yorker cartoon pointedly suggests, our interactive future may have us all singing the participatory blues one day.

Ubertrends: Casual
Value Propellants: Aggression, disruption, dominance, informality, shock

Entry Filed under: People, Lifestyle