Online Arguements

 

    For this blog, I will be analyzing the arguments in the comment section of a Reddit post. The post, a picture of Jimmy Carter at his wife's funeral, was posted to the subreddit r/pics. I decided to choose this argument since I am not opinionated one way or another about Jimmy Carter. I wanted to be able to choose a topic where I did not have preconceived notions and could analyze the argument from a neutral position. 

    After going through a lot of the comments on the post, I found many smaller arguments instead of just one big one. One negative example of an argument from the post was a group of people arguing about if Jimmy Carter was a good president. This was a negative example since people used their emotions, instead of stating facts about his presidency. Another concern I have with this argument is that people kept deflecting. Instead of keeping the topic straight and continually talking about Carter, they would talk about other presidents. They would use the other president's downfalls instead of focusing on what Carter did or did not do well. Lastly, one concern I had with this argument is that people kept arguing about the actual picture being disrespectful. This was a concern of mine since people did not seem to understand why the picture was being posted. The picture was trying to show the kindness of Carter, but people kept arguing that it was disrespectful. 

Here is a link so that the reddit thread can be viewed. https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/1bbpxas/former_us_president_jimmy_carter_at_his_wifes/

    To argue correctly online, I have made an outline with five rules of how it should be done. The first rule will be to be respectful. By being respectful, I mean to understand that people have different opinions, and everyone has equal rights to be heard. The second rule will be to not be rude. This goes along with the first rule, but this expands on it to include not being rude and mean with how you respond to people. The third rule would be to understand what you are talking about. This is a very important rule since you cannot argue well if you don't know what you are talking about. The next rule would be to step away from the keyboard if necessary. This is a helpful rule since it will stop arguments from being led by emotions and becoming heated. The last rule would be to be an active listener. While you are not having a face-to-face interaction, it is important to listen to other people online. You want to be listened to and other people feel the same way as well. 

Sources: 

Kevin. “How Social Media Turns Online Arguments between Teens into Real-World Violence.” World Leading Higher Education Information and Services, 6 Apr. 2021, world.edu/how-social-media-turns-online-arguments-between-teens-into-real-world-violence/.

R/PICS on Reddit: Former U.S President Jimmy Carter at His Wife’s ..., www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/1bbpxas/former_us_president_jimmy_carter_at_his_wifes/. Accessed 11 Mar. 2024.