Thoughts on Spite

Thoughts on Spite

I'm feeling philosophical.

Hate and spite are two very powerful feelings, mainly because of the fact that they're contagious.

An example(which I'm only using because it's the only one I can think of at the time): An Artist posts art at DeviantArt that violates the TOS. An Administrator sees it, and take it down. The Artist takes offense at this, since his art is something personal to him that he wants to share. So he puts it back up just to spite them. The Admin see it, and they get pissed at the guy's breaking the TOS, and bans him. Artist is really pissed now. He comes over to SheezyArt, and to spite DA and vent his frustrations, makes anti-DA submissions and comments. In comes Deviant. Deviant sees SheezyArt, finds the comments and submissions, and goes 'WTF'. Now he's pissed because of this stuff, as he likes DeviantArt, and nobody likes to see the stuff they care about get attacked. So, to spite Artist, and SheezyArt in general(because of Artist's poorly-thought out example of SA's inhabitants) Deviant makes an account with the name 'SHEEZYARTLICKSPENIS' and starts spamming people and insulting them and saying stuff like they're only here because they're 'DA rejects' and such. This pisses off more people in DeviantArt, and the guy gets banned. But the damage has already been done, as the people at SheezyArt now have a poor example of what the people at DeviantArt are like. So, to spite them, they make anti-DA stuff, which pisses off more people at DA. OMGRINSEREPEAT.

Who's at fault here? Everybody except the administrators of the two sites. Artist is at fault for breaking the terms of service, then being pissed, continuing to ignore the rules, and attacking DeviantArt when he's banned. Deviant is at fault for being an ass and making an account to piss people off. Spite doesn't give a flying flapjack about right and wrong, and it doesn't care about why. All that matters is that someone did something to YOU that hurt you in some way, and you want to make them hurt too so they can see what it's like. But that person doesn't see that. All they see is someone doing something to THEM that THEY didn't like. And people related to the opposing people in any way will be affected, because how dare they be like that to someone who's affiliated with something I'm affiliated to! And that's how it spreads. It happens in everything that has affiliated groups. Websites, nations, ancient samurai clans(You dishonor my family! I KEEL YOO!), and football team fans(OMG UR TEEM SUX + I H8 U CUZ UR TEEM WON!!1) Making people recognize your pain like that is only reliable in movies and stories and crap. The only thing they'll recognize is your anger.

So the best way to keep this hate disease from spreading is to not let it out in places people can reach it and get infected. If you're angry at something, don't vent that anger somewhere that people affiliated to that something can find it. Or do so in a way that isn't blatantly directed at that something. It's like covering your mouth when you sneeze or cough. And if you're away from other people, you can cough and sneeze and barf to your heart's content. Just don't take that hate/germ-ridden picture/upchuck somewhere where it can reach other people. Quarantine yourself. Stop the spite epidemic.