Cole Cohen ’24
Combat in some form is the oldest running sport in human history, and combat resolution through combat is as old as time, but recently humanity has embraced a new form of battle. Thailand houses Muay Thai, a community of combatants fighting with “the art of eight limbs” in a straight striking sport. American boxing possesses historical figures like Tyson, Ali, and Robinson, fighting with their hands up and legs straight. Fighting is a culture that seeps into the general population with great fighters, like the men mentioned above, but recently humanity has taken a new form of battle, an almost obsolete indifference.
Over time, the need to be a good fighter in terms of survival has mostly disappeared, and parental perception of combat sports has steadily crashed. Instead, humans have taken their need for an altercation to social media and comment sections, where the mentality and physicality of a fight have taken the form of aggressive finger movements along a keyboard: arguing with someone you have never met to prove to yourself that you can win, but in the end, truly winning nothing.
Online combat is a new form of disagreement, one that is substantially less civil and more accessible than ever before. Online comment sections are littered with chronically online populations that salivate over the opportunity to prove someone wrong or correct someone’s grammar. Social media has created an opportunity for everyone to be special, and the moment that uniqueness is challenged, back and forths of insults occur. As well the fear of being hit has become obsolete, nothing stops people from espousing their insults like a neglected fountain.
In the physical world, disagreements involve two people, looking each other in the eye and pleading and arguing their points, a forum where verbal fluency and intellect persist. While this occurs, both parties have to be careful to not cross a line into physicality they cannot win, because “no one wins a fight”.
However, online this hesitancy and barrier of getting punched in the face does not exist. Because the fear of being hit has become obsolete. Nothing stops people from stopping no one from espousing their insults like a neglected fountain.
Virtual anonymity has also created a community of full-time combatants or “trolls”. The goal of a troll is simple, to oppose, argue, or insult anything or anyone they deem entertaining or worthy of their opposition.
The human desire to fight is not evil, as it’s commonly perceived. Altercation isn’t the enemy of advancement, it is how we progress. Thoughtful arguments are a lot like a fight; uppercuts and hooks are exchanged with counterpoints, and footwork and placement are replaced with arguments.
Online, none of these things matter: arguments are typically settled by baseless insults, providing entertainment for others. There is no clear winner, and the argument typically ends with one party giving up. Or seeing the lack of merit in continuing and simply blocking their combatant. Online combat is pointless, winning and losing becomes obsolete, and there is no point in arguing with someone who cannot or will not understand your point of view.