There are two types of criticism.
No, not "good" and "bad". Although it is similar.
So...
- Some people try to help others by sharing their opinions, ideas and views.
- Others want to help themselves.
But it's not up to the person! Not education, awareness, citizenship or anything else. No.
...It depends on the PLACE where he comments.
Feisbuku, Delfio, Youtube, Reddit, in person, in messages, emails, comments on blog articles, or maybe live in front of an audience...?
Let me explain.
Why aren't you guilty of your stupid comments?
There is little mystery here. We all do it.
No matter how educated, how aware, how well-meaning, how cool or otherwise cool we may be... We all (sometimes) succumb to easy pleasures.
Because:
- It's programmed inside us to seek pleasure. It's just human nature to live pleasurably and to choose what is most pleasurable more often. (Doesn't mean always.)
- Sometimes we get tired and our brakes fall off.
...Which means that writing comments that are unhelpful, if not mocking, to others is not preventable through greater discipline or sermons.
And please don't say that you never left any stupid, petty, useless comment anywhere. Because that would mean that you just don't know how to see what you are doing yet.
It might be hard to admit that you could do it...
...But, well, the fact is - you're already doing it.
Maybe not every day, maybe not all the time (I hope), but you also get emotions, anger, stupid jokes, other sparrows...
...And why do useless comments slip through?
Because there are places that are designed to take it out of you.
This is social engineering.
The more comments, however insane -> the more... money. Directly or not.
Guess why Delfi.lt doesn't try to control the commentators, as 15min.lt has tried (and succeeded relatively well)?
Every comment means that the commenter will return to the page again and again - at least once, the page will reload and take on new advertising after the comment is posted. And ad views and clicks - that's what Delfi lives on.
This is not a bad thing. It's just a business model.
In some places, people are more likely to help others. And in others, they help themselves.
However, we should not condemn those who help themselves. We do that too. You, me, your mother and your former Lithuanian language teacher. We are selfish people who are all about getting pleasure.
And... You know?
Pleasure is a very important topic here.
In some places there are it's just more fun to post comments. Both helpful and unhelpful, both positive and negative.
In these places, you will immediately notice that the comments are gamified.
Zai-di-mi-zuo-ti.
They're designed to give you a tasty bit of fun for every comment!
Did you write a funny observation? Here's a thumbs up for you. Understand - you wrote well. Did you write something interesting? There's a surprised look on your face. Understand - you wrote interestingly. Did you write something stupid, specifically trolling? There's your angry face and mountains of outraged mullahs' reactions.
In some places, it is more pleasant to comment, no matter what and no matter how.
And we get pleasure in return.
The more we comment there, the more fun it is. The more clichéd, which would appeal to the majority of the place, the more enjoyable.
They are like wheels that hangover and paint themselves with praise.
Well, like a group of Moros walking down the pavement talking rubbish about everybody and everything, in the vernacular, and then laughing about it together.
Crowd approval is a powerful drug.
And where to find a meaningful discussion?
In places where it's not so fun to comment.
- A blog post that doesn't have all sorts of pretty emoticons, and every time you have to fill in the name and email fields.
- In a live forum with over 100 people, and people are invited to the microphone, before everyone else.
- In an online forum where everyone is completely anonymous, so those "likes" are not personal, but simply for the message itself.
And so on.
The harder it is to stand up in front of people and talk, the more valuable the ideas are likely to be.
Not always! But usually.
Where wisdom is rewarded, nonsense does not help. Where the rewards are hardest to come by, nonsense is not.
As the saying goes, on the internet everyone is a knight of the wire.
...But we are the greatest knights where the environment is designed to capture our attention, to suck out our desire for dopamine, serotonin and other pleasurable chemicals.
A little reassurance.
Don't be upset if people talk negatively about you or your work on Facebook. If they talk about it in the comments on Delfi. If it's in the Marozai group.
Because it's nothing personal.
And they just do it to get some satisfaction from life. To relax after work. To escape the pain of the rest of their lives.
And you. You do it too.
But no big deal. These places are designed to extract that from you. They're not made for you to have a good time.
It's better to focus your attention where people... well, give their attention. Not in a fun and cheeky way, but certainly better than another meme.
Although...
...What do you think?
