Yahoo Answers and Stupid People

When I have free time at work (lets not discuss the % of free time compared to being busy) I get on my phone, and I go to Yahoo! Answers. I don't intentionally go there to be mean. I go there to help. Sometimes though, you got to give some tough love you know? I mean, when people have the amount of numbness in their head that I have been witnessing on that site, your going to have to leave a sting if your going to make an impact.

I go there with the assumption that when people ask questions of a personal nature, that they want honesty. I also assume, that how they are answered should be reflective of the quality of the question. Let me give you an example, one I am kinda proud of.

Now if you feel bad for the girl and think that it was wrong of me to be so rude to ask her when she was reaching out for help, let me remind you. This is the internet, this is the same as going and stopping people on the streets of New York City and asking for consuling, your not going to get the best treatment, but every now and then there might be a kind soul.

I like to think of myself as that kind soul. But not if you ask me something that you should already know. In that question, did that girl seriously need to know? Was she really that clueless about social issues?

Sometimes people ask legitimate questions, or openly ask for opinions on what you think they should do, sometimes I offer serious advice, othertimes, I crack a joke, I flip a coin. Point is, not everyone on there are completely ignorant.

I like questions like this, obviously there is something the person is worried about being found out, but has enough sense of mind to know the internet doesn't care about that. Just gets to the part they want to know. In this case, I think my answer holds true, a restaurant is going to go more off of their perception of you rather than doing a thorough background check and checking every reference.

Common sense in social interaction is largely dying now days, people use the internet and totally lose sight of what is normal human to human behavior. Or proper etiquette. The digital age and the internet is just one of many causes. Why do we have to ask others what we should know because a lack of education? Or is it rather an issue of self confidence? Do more and more people require the consensus of a group before they allow themselves to form their own opinion?

So I am going to get off my little soapbox, thanks for listening to me rant. I am not saying that all people should know all things about society, but sometimes, you need to show that you have more than a nuetral zone around your head, you know? I know the reader was offended I was so "mean" but I was offended too. It might not be her fault though, I mean teachers, parents, friends, her entire support network has done a really poor job preparing her for how to deal with situations in the real world. I might run into this person some day and get onions on a hamburger I asked to have no onions on it as a result. That's probably mean.

I find the difference between being mean and being honest is tone. It takes a lot less work to be mean. People listen to mean better too, they just ignore honesty, cause most of the time they knew what they were gonna hear anyways.