Being a minority
We have done a lot of work to enable minorities to be included in our rich Internet culture, and it has only made our Internet culture richer.
There has been a significant downside though.
The Internet was initially created and populated by a group of people that to a large degree were conditioned to believe that they were the apex predator in the room. Flame wars, Religious crusades, Trolls, they always existed, either in reality or in perception but because a large number of us knew that we were the apex predators in the room, we did not care.
The inclusion of every minority we could find or be discovered by, though, introduced a lot of people to the Internet who have been conditioned that they are not the apex predators in the room.
They are conditioned to take seriously every indication that they are under some form of attack, whether it is real or not.
The rough and tumble of the Internet is a big part of its richness. The determination by a lot of well meaning individuals and groups to cover all of the hard and pointy surfaces with polite, gentle and politically correct foam is reducing the cultural richness of the Internet.
We need to teach more people that the belief that you are the apex predator in the room is simply a state of mind. You do not need to be the apex predator to believe it, and the belief can give you the freedom to simply ignore the sharp, uncomfortable and pointy bits of the Internet you might not enjoy and enjoy all of the richness that remains.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
