IRC should be shut down just like the MSN chatrooms a few years back. This is one thing that puzzles me quite a bit. What is really about the Internet that brings out the worse in people; be it playing out their depraved sexual fantasies, bashing a stranger's blog or even hurling abuse at someone for no apparent reason? Of course, the common notion of belief is that the Internet offers a veil of anonymity which is to allow anyone to hide behind a computer screen. But seriously, has it ever once ran through those minds that behind the screen, the victim that is the object of their 'abuse' is a real person with emotions just like themselves?
Coming back to the issue on IRC. I happened to log in 2 weeks ago just for the heck of it, after swearing it off in 2003 and what did I see? It seems to me that IRC is becoming even worse then what it was 3 years back.I'm not going to elaborate fully but making a rough estimate, I found that only 20-30% of the people who go on to it can be classified as normal, decent people who have a genuine intention of having 'clean' chat. The other 70-80% don't have an inch of respect for the people they chat with. Perhaps you all may be feeling that I'm thinking too much over such a trivial issue, and you may be right. Everytime I log in to IRC, even if just for the sake of curiosity, a part of my innocence, along with my love for people, dies. Call me a prude or even an extremist if you must, but I really can't help but feel absolutely disgusted by these behaviours,and if I had some sort of divine power, I would probably have screwed up these people bad. To put it simply, if you can't respect others, don't expect to receive the same yourself.
Some divergence here. As a Christian, I'm aware that I need to love and accept others, even with their idiosyncracies. But let's face it, it's EXTREMELY difficult to do so, particularly if you're being faced with situations like this on the net. Avoiding it can seem a plausible solution but it doesn't exactly address the root issue on the dark side and depravity of people.