Current Events > What is the appeal of pretending to be Racist/Sexist online?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I don't get it. It's not funny. It's stupid.

My friend and I decided to jump into some competitive Overwatch. (We are both Black) We hop into a match and greet the team. Everyone is friendly and pumped to try and win this game. The last guy turns on his Mic... First thing he said, "Hey. You know what would be funny? If Mcree said, 'Yea! Take that N-Word!' (with the "er") when he killed someone. Wouldn't that be awesome? It fits the Cowboy thing."

Everyone instantly went silent except him. I broke the silence and told him how stupid that was. After I said that he kept egging it on. "No man. It would be awesome. Just imagine it! You don't think that him saying 'Take that N-Word!' would be awesome?" Everyone stayed silent as he kept asking, "Anyone? No one? Really? Well, I think it would be cool."

Then he proceeded to act normal and make call outs the rest of the game while no one talked but him. To me he seemed like he was trying to be funny. How is that funny? Seriously?
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My theory is essentially what research already shows.

People feel embolden by the anonymity of the internet so they can show their true colors without repercussion.

Same thing with CE. Some of these users only state or do the things they do because they can't in real life without alienating friends and gaining the rep they deserve.

People say you wear a mask on the internet but it's the opposite. Most people wear masks in real life (and they're typically the ones to state the former).

TL;DR yes, they might think it's funny but can only "try" it online.
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I wonder this too, TC. Especially because pretending to be a racist looks no different than actually being racist.
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Maybe people get off on rustling others jimmies
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The words "gay" and "fa****" were also being thrown around the early online days but like all fads it will die
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It's a mixed bag. You have people who simply aren't pretending but do it because they don't have the guts to act that way in person, or they lack any real social interaction allowing them to do so. You then have those who aren't pretending but claim that they are as a lie to tell themselves to ignore their hatred. Then finally you have people who are actually "joking" about it to troll, which also makes you quite a big piece of shit.

So just different levels of turds, really
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bump
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