Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
It sounds like you're (very politely) saying that people have prejudices, and anonymity removes the possibility of prejudice. If that's so, maintaining that anonymity would only serve to prolong those prejudices, when we ought to be working toward eliminating them... which successful cooperation often does.
|
I guess I am saying that we all respond differently to people of different genders, ethnicities, ages and abilities, and that there are structural power relations between people of different genders, ethnicities, ages and abilities. However enlightened, non-oppressive, non-discriminatory, turned on, tuned in, dropped out or in any other way generally right on I might consider myself to be, those structural power relations continue to impact the relations between me and the people I encounter.
As a medium the internet can, in some ways, minimize the negative impacts of those differences, simply because I am mostly unaware of the genders, ethnicities, ages and abilities of many of the people I communicate with. It can also provide a screen behind which people can hide to get away with saying things they wouldn't say in a more face-to-face situation. I am agreeing with you that the latter is often, but not always, a bad thing, but I'm also saying that the former can be, but isn't necessarily, a good thing.