“Doctor Who” fans around the world tuned in to various BBC outlets on Sunday to find out who would play the role of The Doctor’s 12th incarnation.
This prompted every social media site I’m a member of — and I’m sure even ones I’m not — to explode with activity to the point where it was all I could see on my feeds without scrolling an irksome amount. “Doctor Who” on Facebook, “Doctor Who” on Tumblr, “Doctor Who” in chat rooms, Twitter — I bet even MySpace exploded with activity.
I’m not part of the fandom, so seeing only “Doctor Who” quickly got repetitive and old quickly, not unlike radio stations overplaying a song to the point where it’s merely annoying.
But then, I realized something: Not everyone cares about what I post. I’ve single-handedly flooded news feeds when World Cup matches were on. It’d be a double standard if I spoke out against it.
This was a momentous occasion for that group of fans. It was their day to rejoice, examine, criticize and discuss the merits the new Doctor has as an actor and then speculate on how he would perform as the Doctor.
I was also lucky enough to hold my tongue when others complained about the “Doctor Who” fans and then get metaphorically eaten alive for having the gall to complain during the rapid reaction. Seeing what happened to those people was enough to cause me to reconsider.
Essentially, this column comes down to a reminder of civility.
Granted, there isn’t as much a need to make that reminder to those reading this column in print.
For those reading online who have a comments section about 300 words down, it is more relevant. For those reading online who can “share this article on Facebook” while adding their own editorial, this reminder is pertinent. For those reading online who can respond in about 40 characters and include the link, this goes out to you.
This isn’t to slam the online commenters — please don’t make that assumption. Commenting provides discussion of issues and adds to the marketplace of ideas.
My point lies in the inherent basis of Internet comments, which is the anonymity that accompanies most sites. That anonymity allows for people to become venomous, attacking the other people instead of debating with them.
It can even lead to people attacking celebrities for no reason more than that they’re celebrities. Behind a username, people can act less than human.
There are countless tales of cyber-bullying and of people being deconstructed while on the Internet.
These stories are not limited to middle and high school students. I’ve seen the same thing happen to college freshmen, college seniors and college graduates.
As the semester winds down and we get a break, I’m sure a good chunk of us will spend our time online. We might be behind usernames instead of tied to Facebook accounts — accounts that can still be falsified. I would just like to encourage civil responses, even if the other side refuses to do the same for you.
Oh, and spoiler alert: The 12th Doctor is Peter Capaldi.
Logan Ladnyk is a UF journalism junior. His columns appear Tuesdays.
