6 | Here's an oxymoron for you: the Libertarian Leviathan

(Option 1) When stepping into any online discussion forum, a precocious reader would notice that each forum has its own flavors and “house rules.” While some are arbitrarily strict and heavily regulated, others practically encourage inflammatory comments. Online politic forums in particular are inherently contradictory – on one hand they feed on intense, usually academic discussions that edge on controversy, but as soon as one poster crosses “the line,” the thread is usually followed by a torrent of irreverent flames, bans, and post-deletions. Take a heavily libertarian discussion forum for example. One may start a topic on religious tolerance and why some perceive it as difficult to achieve in America, as well as the approaches that individuals can take to make changes. The thread is quickly supported by sympathetic responses and speculations regarding organizations that can help fight against religious discrimination and persecution. However, one poster drops the obvious “bomb” and mentions, (gasp), the government and the entire discussion spirals into the seventh level of hell. In this particular cyberspace, the norms are being libertarian – against government involvement and minimize the power of the establishment. The conventions follows that one should stick to ideas that do not involve government intervention and the standard are, well, all the general traits of liberalism and individualism.

How do people learn those norms? Well, here we can implement a fun little “nature vs. nurture” analogy. Those who come and actually visit the libertarian forums are very likely to be predisposed, by “nature,” to be libertarians and quickly fit in with the older posters. After all, if you are a conservative Republican you are not likely to be inclined, or have the technical knowledge (I jest) to access such forums. You may, however, engage in other activities such as shooting harmless animals, preaching Intelligent Design and general Bible thumping (again, for the sake of humor). The “nurture” aspect is almost akin to Skinner’s behaviorist explanation – you post something against the norms, get flamed, and perhaps change your stance so you may gain acceptance. Like a monkey reaching for the elusive banana, we adjust our behavior, through trial and error, to conform to the norms and standards in order to integrate ourselves into that particular community. To ease the process (and as a proof of our mental superiority over monkeys), many forums include “please read before you post” threads (typically in capitalized letters, bolded with red color for emphasis) that lists the rules of the forums to help “newbies” understand what is acceptable and what is not.

The Hobbian Leviathan, a metaphorical god-figure that arbitrates over human behavior and makes definitive resolutions – unchallenged, unchangeable, takes form in online forums under the title of Moderators. The moderators scour the forums to delete posts that are offended the rules or are perceived to be highly unacceptable to the norms of the community. Typically moderators have absolute jurisdiction over forum posts – they may delete or alter them at will. The absolute power bestowed upon them comes with temptations of abuse as well. However, as any avid reader of Hobbs would know, the occurrences of power abuse are a price that the society pays for the order and peace maintained thanks to the Leviathan. Anyone who actively opposes, or attempts to nullify/destroy the Leviathan usually ends up like Captain Ahab, harpooned with a permanent ban from the forums.

The virtual group dynamics described by Wallace describes quite well what goes on in an online discussion forum. The posters conform for social acceptance; they learn the standards through observations and experimentations. Non-conformists would receive the “arched brow” (albeit the online version tends to be far more vitriolic and expressive) from others, while those who conform well are rewarded with positive feedback from the community. All those qualities also neatly fit into the Social Identity/Deinvidualization, or SIDE theory. The libertarian discussion forums are clearly a salient group, with visual anonymity granted by virtual of being on the Internet, thus most members tend to conform, over-attribute certain qualities (e.g. being liberal, anti-establishment), and engage in heavy group influence via approvals or direct reproaches.

Comments:

http://comm245brown.blogspot.com/2007/10/6-online-forums.html#comment-115283207539319759

http://comm245brown.blogspot.com/2007/10/6-1-soloers-in-daoc.html#comment-3675788962507055801