retard u suck!!!1 (A Look at Flamers)

Alright. That's it. I have absolutely had it up to the very last hair on my head with those people. You know the kind of person I'm talking about. Yeah, that's right: those people who have a million bad words to say about anything and everything, yet not one good. If you use the Internet at all regularly, you will no doubt have come across thousands of these 'flamers'.

Seriously, what is wrong with them? I understand that criticism is necessary if anything is going to improve, but constructive criticism, please. Just 'bashing' or 'flaming' something for no good reason is... well, pointless.

And more than pointless: it is actively damaging to the psyches of both involved. The flamed party often becomes aggrieved by these senseless attacks, quite understandably, and invariably becomes embroiled in an emotionally draining argument. Even if the flamee has the good sense to stay away from said argument, comments like this are still very damaging.

Don't they realise what impact such flaming has on other people? Words can be very powerful - they can make people think, act or feel differently. I find it genuinely sad that so many people around the world think it's okay to treat their fellow human beings like crap, whether over the 'net or in real life.

I would like to know how these flamers think, I really would. What goes through their minds when they launch their hurtful attacks on people? Or is there indeed no intellectual intervention - is it simply instinctual?

Ultimately, there can be no defensible logical position for insulting someone. As any logicians will know this is a case of ad hominem, or attacking the man rather than the argument. Slagging off or dissing the other person, in layman's terms. So why do this?

Because it's all they know, I say. So many people in today's world grow up around people who frequently lose their rag and shout, make snide, hurtful comments or are just generally obnoxious. In my town, I have on several occasions seen parents shouting at and even swearing at their children.

You just don't do that. Children should not be shouted or sworn at. They are still very young and therefore have not yet built up the thick skin needed to deflect such comments. Such displays of flagrant anger from their own parents can only lead to a child growing up emotionally damaged. Parents should learn to develop tolerance and patience, at least when around their children. I can say from personal experience that nothing scares me more than my own dad when he's angry - even now, in my teens, that kind of thing lingers in the unconscious mind.

If I ruled the world (Which I have no intention of doing, let me state: it's far too big. I'd rather rule a small area the size of Luxembourg - the country or the capital.) I would make it so that everybody, and I mean everybody, would have to undergo a test before being given a license to breed. Call me a fascist if you like, but I have some reasons, good ones or not.

The gift of life is far too lightly given in today's world: I don't think I have to remind you about the horror stories concerning teenage grandmothers. And once it is given, it is not respected. A life is a terrible thing to waste, and yet it so often is because parents do not properly appreciate the full extent of just what having a child means.

In fact, I hate that phrase; 'having' a child. You don't just 'have' a child in the same way that you have a football: you take care of them. When you bring a life into this world, you burden yourself with an important responsibility, and like most responsibilities of this magnitude if it is not shouldered then it can lead to truly horrific results. Alright, so perhaps failing to be responsible for a child is not quite the same as failing to be responsible for Chernobyl's reactor, but if your child is screwed-up enough then murders may occur - names like Jeffrey Dahmer and Seung Hui-Cho spring to mind.

So am I saying that flamers are sociopaths? I suppose I am. One does not necessarily have to go on a killing spree to be a sociopath - people who don't care about the feelings of others and are fully justified of their own actions, no matter what the case, are displaying sociopathic tendencies. But then, do these flamers feel fully justified? Or do they realise, on however unconscious a level, that what they are doing is wrong?

In the end there just ain't enough love in the world. Yes I did say that, and if you feel like throwing up now then please go ahead.

But isn't it obvious? The child grows up emotionally damaged and not knowing how to love because their parents never showed them any, not knowing how to themselves. Having grown up, they then have a child of their own, and the whole vicious circle repeats itself, like a serpent biting its own tail.

If the world is to become a good and happy place, then love will be an integral part of the process. It is widely-held that hate is the opposite of love, but these same people often forget that hate is often a product of fear. Hate leads to destruction, and why destroy anything unless it's a threat to you? It is natural to fear threats, and therefore to hate them.

The primary breeding ground of fear is ignorance. It stands to reason that you'll take the brightly-lit path rather than the dark one, doesn't it? I don't know when it was exactly that being intelligent became unfashionable, but it has, which I think is a crying shame. Not only is it not fashionable to be intelligent - intelligence is commonly regarded by those who supposedly are fashionable to be an abberation and something to be shunned. Those words 'I hate reading' sound like nails on a chalkboard to me, but what's so lamentable is that they're so often spoken.

Alright, I can understand why intelligent people may be shunned - maybe people think that they're showing off their acumen, which is sometimes the case. However, how is this any different from the 'fashionable' people showing off their fancy clothes, accessories and even their bodies? The growing trend among young females these days is to look good rather than be intelligent: I have heard that there is even a miniature stripper pole for pre-teen girls. Doesn't this sound at all disturbing to you?

Do not think that I'm saying acquiring intelligence instantly makes you a good person. It doesn't necessarily. Werner von Braun was a rocket scientist, yet he was directly responsible for the development of rockets like the V2 and ICBMs - tools of mass murder, no less - for first the Germans in the 2nd World War and then the U.S. afterward. Where and on what he chooses to work is his own business, but I think you will agree with me in saying that his morality is perhaps slightly less than impeccable.

But I am saying that, without intelligence, you cannot come to understand yourself, nor the people around you. It is through understanding of the human psyche's machinations, coupled with love for one's fellows, that anyone can become a good and kind person.

So enough with the flaming, yeah? There's enough hate in this world as it is - there's no need to exacerbate the problem. And if a flamer attacks you, please don't reply in kind - hatred breeds only more hatred, as I have demonstrated.

But neither does that mean you must suffer in silence. Instead, draw them out. Ask them why. Questions lead to answers, which lead to understanding, and possibly even to liking. And if the flamer responds in kind to you, all the better. Just like hate, harmony leads to nothing but more of itself. Let's try and keep it that way, eh?