Maybe it's just a thing with him, but it seems like every day he's telling me about some argument he's in on the internet. 

Husbando is a dude who likes his games.  He likes video games, mobile games, board games, table top games, all sorts of games.  Well, one is coming out next month that ties into a table top game from the 80's and he's super stoked about it.  Apparently the company that's been working on this game has been trying to get it out for years. It's called Cyberpunk 2077.  I guess it's a shooter game? I don't know what you'd call it in a category.  My knowledge of video games kind of begins and ends with Nintendo.

But he listens to me nerd out about my stuff, so I listen to him nerd out about his.

And that's fine. I get that he's excited, if it were me, I'd be excited, too.  But he does something I do not understand.  He goes on Reddit and answers questions that people have about the game and the backstory, that he knows.  Now that is all well and good.  Sure, if you have some knowledge, share it.  Why not?  That WOULD be fine.  But apparently a lot of the fans of this game (that I remind you, isn't even out yet) are snarky internet teenagers.

Husbando is a 45 year old man.

You'd think that these people wouldn't be able to rile him up, but they do.  People get snarky, people get disrespectful, people get misogynistic, and he can't just ignore it. He has to get into these arguments with people that he'll never meet,  because they're talking smack about this game.  Or they're getting personal, or they're getting unnecessarily critical, etc etc.

Now some of these things, I get why he wants to shut them down.  On the internet, people's tendency to be "keyboard anonymous" means that they say a bunch of stuff they'd never say out loud or to someone's face.  And he's read me some of the things they've said.  Terrible, racist, sexist, just... stupid stuff.  But I always tell him, people just want to argue on the internet.

That's the whole thing about it, they don't care really about what they're actually talking about, they just want to argue and call people names.  That's what I don't get.  Why would you engage with that?  Yeah, you might be trying to stop someone from spreading racist ideas, but... you're really just encouraging them. People online who want to argue just argue, and never actually listen to another person's point.  I say, block the comment and move on.

I don't quite get the need to argue on the internet with strangers. Heck, most of the time I don't engage with social media for that very reason. And those are people I KNOW. I know you know what I mean. Some people just like to post stuff really, just to make other people mad.  Why? What do you gain from that?  Does anything in your life improve because you made someone half way across the country mad? Does being rude or incendiary make you any more right?

To me, it's just pointless.  Arguing with strangers on the internet.  I get this is something he's passionate about, and he wants people to be respectful and, you know, not racist or sexist, but... they're not going to listen.  They're just not.  So why work yourself up over it? I say he should focus on the positive bits, the questions he can answer where people are appreciative, and not engage with the rude people.

But hey, that's just my opinion.  He's gonna do what he wants (don't worry, he won't read this. And I've told him this same thing a dozen times).

Do you think arguing on the internet can be useful? Do you ever get into it online?

Arguingly yours,

Behka

 

More From KIX 105.7