Pajiba

"Damn, girl. Five hours this week. Of blandness. That's hardcore."

BRING IT!

So, basically all that Times article said was that people can be assholes when they are alone on the computer? Isn't that established scientific fact by now?

I take it they never saw the comments sections here. Or anywhere else, for that matter.

"So, basically all that Times article said was that people can be assholes when they are alone on the computer? Isn't that established scientific fact by now?" - Vermillion

Yeah, pretty much. I've held the same belief for years but I'm so relieved that I can finally excuse calling my friend's girlfriend a jizz guzzling bonesmuggler by saying "Sorry bro,I'm a Flamer".....waitaminute....Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

But now that gives me an excuse to develop a whole new field of psychological study: Asshole

The Times article not only states the obvious, but makes me wonder if people suffered from the "epistolary disinhibition effect" caused by sitting alone, writing a letter (while angry!) in the days before faster forms of communication. Just think...you're alone, there's no authority figure, there's a significant lagtime before feedback can be recieved...your pen is scratching indignantly and you feel a dangerously exaggerated sense of self...

People must have flamed each other all over the place, right? No? Maybe they just didn't celebrate the culture of dickwad behavior like we do. It must have been a pretty boring world, come to think of it.

Flaming was alive and well (although significantly slower!) in the late 17th/18th centuries, no question. It may be an anacronistic term to apply to pre-tech days, but vats of on-display vitriol passed back and forth between writers and certain other public figures, for every literate person to read and every other person to have related to them; see Dryden vs Shadwell, Dryden vs. Villiers, the Moderns vs the Ancients debates (Swift et al), or passages from Marvell's "Last Instructions to a Painter" just for starters...

I'm sure we can name examples, actually, from every period (see Juvenal, perhaps). But it was well nigh a literary convention in and around the 18C.

Of course, back then, flaming was a freaking art and far more public: poetry, dramatic prologues, beautifully constructed essays, etc. Every now and then I see a vestige of real razor-slicing, layered satire and astonishing prose crop up on blogs or comments sections today, and I sigh a little sigh of appreciation.

IMO it was anything but boring. Shadwell's reputation still hasn't recovered from "MacFlecknoe" (written over 300 years ago). "Dickwad culture" (nice term!) was alive and well--we shake our head at their audacity, but relish the results sometimes...

I knew it! I knew there was something disingenuous about framing this is a completely new phenomenon. There's nothing new under the sun, as they say.

Thank you, ranylt. I wish I was still in college, and could take delicious courses like "Poisoned Pens: Flaming and the 18th century."

Incidentally, I will be introducing Swift to my highschoolers next week. I think the Times article might be a great way to put it in context for them.

AM - I think putting it into that context would be a very effective way to reach students. Fun!