Even though the internet has a way of giving everyone an identity, and validating our existences, it also removes everyone's faces in a way-- it makes us all anonymous. When we discover the vast expanse of people out there, all crowding in front of cameras and hungry for their five minutes of fame online, we begin to understand just how insignificant our own small reality really is, and the insignificance of others. Then, we discover the power of celebrity, the power of status and mass appeal, and learn that only some are really insignificant, the masses, all of us. In terms of globalization, the internet is a powerful thing. Imagine experiencing Jersey Shore in a third world country. Imagine seeing hardcore porn for the first time as a thirty year old in a highly religious police state.
We're not equipped to handle all this learning, maybe, and we can't keep up with all the new desires and freedoms. We find out that there is a whole new world to be friends with, but that world might hate you, it might be merciless.
I think this is might be part of the reason people begin to think of each other as objects, because there are just so many of us, you see yourself as small and others as small, too. There is a certain degree of certainty that you can get away with just about anything.
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