This is obvious

The internet allows for the proliferation of information and ideology in a manner simply not possible 20+ years ago. The internet has also channeled our need to form communities that are no longer bound by geography and region. Sounds great right? Well, sort of.

While communities are wonderful, they also have a tendency to identify undesirables and "others." The history of civilization on this planet has numerous examples of this. The "likes" join together and build a community while banishing and shunning those who do not "belong." Online communities are no different and quite frankly, party is irrelevant when it comes to this behavior. With all our talk about tolerance and diversity, we only truly extend this to those who share similar ideology and social world view. Conservatives use patriotic and "American" in the same way. If you do not believe as they, then you are not American or patriotic.

We are becoming more polarized day by day. We no longer seek common ground. We seek subjugation. It is easy to forget that actual people are involved. It is easy to demonize the other side when they are just "republicans" or "democrats" or "progressives" or "Third way" Consider the language we use to describe those who do not agree. Would we use that language in a public form with potentially anonymous individuals near? I do not believe most would. Most of us were taught to be mindful of others and to be respectful of those around us. Yet we forget these lessons when it comes to posting on forums, twitter, face book and other forms of social media. It is easy to ignore that our words have consequences when we will never see the face of those we harm. We can easily forget that a loved one may be harmed as we celebrate the death of a politician from the "otherside." They are faceless Rs. We are faceless Ds

I sometimes think we are too immature to use the internet and social media wisely and that it may just cause irreparable damage to our society and culture.