I agree about the Facebook groups. I belong to a few, but those are for causes like breast cancer and animal cruelty, etc. Several of my FB friends have joined the "I don't care about your farm, your fish..." group and when I saw the alerts on my FB home page I just rolled my eyes. Like, really? Just hide the app from view for crying out loud. Problem solved.
My sister-in-law's sister joins every FB group that has an insulting or stupid name ("I don't give a f**k" is an example). I'm sure she thinks it's funny, but I just ask myself why. What's the motivation behind even creating a group like that in the first place, unless it's just to see how many people you can get to join?
As for online games, several of my friends (RL and otherwise) love Mafia Wars, Petville, Farmville, etc. For a while I was even into Petville myself, but I dropped it because damn, taking care of one fake pet was harder than taking care of my three real ones! But I don't begrudge people their games. Hell, I like to take quizzes and post my results on my FB page which I'm sure no one cares about. That's the nature of Facebook.
Ultimately, people feel more secure online. They're willing to say things and do things to other people they would never do in person. That veil of anonymity, so to speak, makes them bolder. It's still insulting and rude in some cases, but the guilt factor is less because you can't see the hurt from the other side of your monitor. (And yes, I am guilty of this, too.)
As for the "Jensen and Jared Deserve Respect" group, like I said in my post - they are of course entitled to their opinion. Lots of people don't like slash. That's okay; it's not for everyone. I, however, chose not to join the group. And even if I didn't write slash, I still wouldn't join. It's not a true cause. It's not worth fighting for (imo) when there are so many other things to crusade against. And btw, being listed as a member of a group like that on Facebook doesn't make you one of The Good Guys and the rest of us The Bad Guys. It's fandom, not the cure for AIDS.
/my two cents
Heh. Sorry about the babbling. But your post really stuck a chord this morning, I guess. Maybe I'm just cranky from lack of sleep. :o)
no subject
My sister-in-law's sister joins every FB group that has an insulting or stupid name ("I don't give a f**k" is an example). I'm sure she thinks it's funny, but I just ask myself why. What's the motivation behind even creating a group like that in the first place, unless it's just to see how many people you can get to join?
As for online games, several of my friends (RL and otherwise) love Mafia Wars, Petville, Farmville, etc. For a while I was even into Petville myself, but I dropped it because damn, taking care of one fake pet was harder than taking care of my three real ones! But I don't begrudge people their games. Hell, I like to take quizzes and post my results on my FB page which I'm sure no one cares about. That's the nature of Facebook.
Ultimately, people feel more secure online. They're willing to say things and do things to other people they would never do in person. That veil of anonymity, so to speak, makes them bolder. It's still insulting and rude in some cases, but the guilt factor is less because you can't see the hurt from the other side of your monitor. (And yes, I am guilty of this, too.)
As for the "Jensen and Jared Deserve Respect" group, like I said in my post - they are of course entitled to their opinion. Lots of people don't like slash. That's okay; it's not for everyone. I, however, chose not to join the group. And even if I didn't write slash, I still wouldn't join. It's not a true cause. It's not worth fighting for (imo) when there are so many other things to crusade against. And btw, being listed as a member of a group like that on Facebook doesn't make you one of The Good Guys and the rest of us The Bad Guys. It's fandom, not the cure for AIDS.
/my two cents
Heh. Sorry about the babbling. But your post really stuck a chord this morning, I guess. Maybe I'm just cranky from lack of sleep. :o)