Purely Conjecture: Why Are YouTube Commenters So Cruel?

We’ve all seen it. Just go to a single popular video on YouTube and you can see tons of comments that are negative, many of which aren’t even related to the video at all.

This isn’t just limited to YouTube though; the hateful comment section is a prevalent thing in various forms of media, no matter how popular something may be.

The bigger question though is why? Why are commenters so cruel to a person just for giving an opinion? There are several reasons, but here are a few conclusions that I have come up with.

There’s No Consequence

When your username is KissMyA$$ or ObamaSucks or Miley4Ever, you have demonstrated the first thing about the internet, which makes it both great and bad, and that is complete anonymity. With the internet you can say anything and no one will track you down, know who you are, you can’t get in trouble. It’s the one place in the world where you can say whatever you want about whoever you want with no consequence, and best of all is because the internet is so large you are bound to find people who agree with you!

Negative Feelings Require Action

When you’re at work, more often than not your employer doesn’t always congratulate you or go out of their way for you doing a good job, but the moment you mess up you can bet that they will stop everything their doing to tell you.

See the comment section works the same way. The reason why there are so many negative comments on YouTube is the same reason why you feel it is important to give that scathing review on yelp about that ice cream shop you visited recently.

When people don’t like something, they want to tell the world, the entire world. People feel that it is their duty to tell people about how bad something is.

It’s an Opinion Different from Yours

No, this doesn’t mean people are suddenly more closed-minded than ever before. This doesn’t mean that they are a moron because you thought 50 Shades of Grey was retarded and they thought it was a masterpiece, it just means that they disagreed with your opinion.

Of course, it would great if we all were to say, “I disagree, but I respect your opinion,” but unfortunately most of us don’t have that particular quality.

When someone dislikes a thing that we enjoy, especially if we really enjoy it to the point where we feel we have an emotional connection to it, then of course we will go up to defend it.

Think about it? When someone doesn’t like your favorite book, film, or T.V. Series, do you usually think “They’re right those are some strong negatives about it” or do you immediately blurt out, “Look, wait you just don’t understand, let me watch it with you, there’s this really good part….”

Or maybe it’s something like

“Well, if you just get past that part you will see it’s really good.” (That’s one of my personal favorites.

Either way, we all feel emotionally tied to things in one or another and that bond requires us to defend it even if we aren’t aware of it.

Conclusion

Look, the fact of the matter is that these comments aren’t the sudden onslaught of people expressing the fact that we are all secretly horrible, uncaring monsters deep down inside. There are tons of reasons why there is so much negativity online, but I would rather people have a place where they can express themselves through text than through physical action.

Who knows, the ability to air out our grievances into the void and find like-minded individuals as well as those who have contrary views will someday allow us all to see things beyond our own emotions and opinions,

But then again, this is all purely conjecture.

Comment below and tell me why you think the internet seems so cruel.