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03/13/2003 Archived Entry: "40% jerks, 40% nice people, 10% reptile brains, 10% crazy people"

That subject line is the way I look at the world...not overwhelmingly nice or evil, but swayed either way by those who either react in the same animal way an unevolved cold-blooded creature would or randomly flit between one chaos choice and another.

Today was a discussion on Fark.com (unlinked on purpose) that followed a news article about a girl with a severe facial birthmark who wasn't promoted and her McDonald's manager allegedly said she "might make babies cry or scare customers off".

While I am understandably disgusted with her manager, I am more disgusted with the people who post in the discussion forums on the site. Some quotes:

Dear God what it that THING?!?!

Now THERE is a face for radio if I ever saw one.

that's not a birthmark, that's evidence of alien ancestry.

I don't mind if she cries at the grill, as long as she cries quietly and doesn't get any tears on the food.

She should be killed!

I do believe if I had to order a hamburger from her I would vomit. Yes it's insensitive. But babies WILL cry upon seeing her face. Scream even. She looks like a monster.

And now I know that Fark is populated by a bunch of that first 40% and very few of the second. Now I make my choice and not visit or support the site. Their link, once on my sidebar, is now removed. There are places on the internet where moderation is appropriate, and this is definitely one. It's a shame that the people who spout this sort of hate aren't punished by the rest of society and instead are protected by laws intended to protect freedom of political speech.

I've always been a big proponent of free speech, especially the right of people who I disagree with to state their opinions and try to change the world to something that makes it better in their eyes. It probably won't be better in my eyes, but that's their right to fight for. I think though that when stupidity and cruelty reigns, that just like on the global scale powerful nations can take out bully dictators, there should be methods of stopping bullies in our environment.

Replies: 2 comments

That's horrible... but I suppose all the people who posted those kind of comments are bronze Adonis' without a blemish, love-handle, or second chin, so they're entitled to mock others (yeah right). Those people weren't enjoying Free Speech, they were enjoying the fact that you can't get punched in the face over the internet. Posted by krupa @ 03/19/2003 09:50 PM PST