Web Based Negativity Reflects Today's World

Nonconstructive Criticisms Have Become a New Standard in Modern Times

There is a local message board in my city that I frequently communicate on. It is supposed to be focused on the local music scene here in Knoxville and hence is appropriately titled Knoxshows. Recently the ownership of this message board had changed hands and, as a result, lost a few of the purists Knoxshows posters. This, in turn, left the board a bit slower than usual, following the changeover. That is, until earlier this week when a discrepancy among a handful of people fueled its fires anew.

The object of the thread in question, which reached five pages of replies in about twenty-four hours, is a girl who we will refer to as Mary. Mary does not post on the Knoxshows board but this was the second time that a thread had come up in regards to her. The first thread was revived, however, after a few hours of the new one being created. The second of these two threads was created by a frequent poster on the board who we will refer to as Heather. The gossipy story that elicited this new thread was something to the effect of one of Heather’s friends owing Mary ten dollars and Mary trying to reach said friend to get paid back. Of course, the situation was twisted to include any number of potentially false details, most of them meant to smear Mary.

I had been acquainted with Mary for about six years. This was enough to have a fairly decent grasp on her positive aspects as well as her idiosyncrasies. And having had some rough roads with her at one particular point in the past, I had weighed in on the initial thread, which was not started by Heather, but someone else who took issue with Mary. Although I tried to outline as objective of a view as possible, I was one who had joined in on the critical fun times. No sooner had I typed and submitted it, I began to hope that Mary would never read it. Around that time, she did not and the thread soon sunk to obscurity.