The Need to be right and internet rage

For some of us, the need to be right is most important. The need to not be seen as the one who did not know. Online we can pretend to be the genius we never actually work towards in real life. We can assume the names of people who accomplished noble deeds in life as nicknames. Some may take on ego self-inflated monikers such "Malcolm X Little 2150" or "IamGodGarvey42". These people tend to go about on the internet picking up invisible swords only to charge full steam into pointless debates online. Many times I find myself wondering about the real people behind these names and avatars who pride themselves on being right or knowing more than the next person. Have I engaged in meaningless and or meaningful debates online? Yes. And There was always this nagging feeling after each character war with some random person I did not know or had ever met, what was the point of that? Was it because my ego was so soft, fragile or big that I just could not allow this one random person or comment to escape me unchecked? But who am I to "check" anyone. And where does this divine digital authority come from that granted me the right to put someone in their place? It is amazing how egotistical we tend to move throughout social media. In many regards, a lot of people remain unaccomplished in their life but speak and type from a place intellectual and moral authority on the internet. It is ok to know that you did not know. You will be alright if someone brings a different perspective to the table. Hell, sometimes you are just damn wrong. 

Personally, I am seeing more examples in my lifetime of people having a hard time disagreeing with each other, especially online. Even when some people may say "okay, we will have to agree to disagree." Never is it mentioned in the sense of I respect your point, and you respect mine. When some complete the statement in a disagreement it is almost as if that person is attempting to shut others up completely. I am not sure where we are headed in society when it comes to civil discourse. Maybe there will be a segment of the population who will become better communicators. Or maybe we as a society will continue to just focus on reasons to disagree with someone's statement instead of completely acknowledging and understanding each other's points of view. I am far from perfect. I tend to get agitated in a discussion by certain things such as the flow of conversation and allowing for an individual to finish a thought. However, I am always reminding myself to be patient and allow for the other person to get their point across because understanding is essential.

​The downside if not the biggest drawback to online conversations is that depending on the author, words can seem so cold, offensive and abrupt or they could be perceived that way. Sometimes some people are just hypersensitive about what they feel is right. Maybe we have invested so much time in our secluded spaces via online profiles that we believe anyone who disagrees with us that it's a personal attack against our digital kingdoms.  I feel sometimes we tend to react much more childishly than we would like to admit online. And maybe because of anonymity, we can freely express our infant like temper tantrums as opposed to having to conduct ourselves accordingly as if we were face to face with each other. But personally for me the internet and all of the trolls that come along with, primarily as a content creator, this has allowed for me to be even more aware of my emotions and be more conscious of my response. And I hope you can do the same. We would be a better society if we truly monitored our emotions and actions online. - Prince Solomon