On Wednesday the 9th, a constitutional amendment was passed in North Carolina banning same-sex marriages. Since then many people have flooded to the Visit North Carolina Facebook page to express their displeasure or support. Most of the negative comments revolve around boycotting travel to North Carolina. In the last ten minutes alone I counted over 25 new posts. The administrators of the page have handled the situation really well. They've kept the non-offensive posts on the page instead of deleting everything or disabling posts, and have posted a message reiterating their page guidelines.
I'm not here to talk about what's right or wrong about same-sex marriage; this isn't a political piece. Instead, I want to look at the growing trend of social media users flooding a social media account to express (or spam, depending on how you view it) their support or displeasure on a certain topic. The internet can be mobilized for both good and for chaos. It can act as a sounding board for those who would otherwise have no chance to get their voice heard, or as an easy and anonymous way to vilify someone or something that you do not like. For every positive example of the online community affecting positive change, there is an example of the community perpetuating hate.
I believe it's wrong to assume that the internet has fundamentally changed our personalities. Instead, I think that it only serves to amplify the good and the ugly sides of our inner nature; read the comments section of any political news story from a high-traffic website and you'll see what I mean.
It would be foolish to think that we could ever hope to make the internet a "civil" place. People are free to speak their minds on the internet, and that should always be the case. My only plea is that you make a conscious effort not to engage in any hatred. So, my dear internet user, will you use your online powers as an agent of chaos or an agent of good?