Komodo Dragon Rips Out And Eats The Fetus Of Pregnant Deer
In school, I scoffed at cliche debate topics like:
- "Is democracy always the best option for governance?"
- "Is climate change a threat or a hoax?"
- "The Internet. A boom or curse?"
Especially the last one. I always laughed at the last one.
Until today, when I saw a heart-wrenching video of a Komodo dragon paralysing a deer to savagely wrench an unborn faun from its womb and proceed to wolf it down in a few gulps.
Most things in life have some advantages and some disadvantages. I've never mulled over much about this because that's the way life is.
Reddit has made me reflect on this quite a few times now.
In a lot of ways it represents the greatest things about the Internet: - Connecting people with shared interests
- Facilitating conversations about taboo topics
- Voicing vulnerabilities anonymously
- Allowing people to understand how "other" people think (whoever "other" is for them)
And in many ways it represents the worst things:
- Connecting extremists and schemers.
- Laying bare the darkest impulses of our species
- Trolling, bullying and exploiting others anonymously
- Spreading fake "news" and validating dogmatics and bigots
It has dark corners that I've guiltily explored. Every time, I uncovered another noxious nook I felt slightly less ashamed.
I am sad that I got onto Reddit. I am disgusted by the things I have actively pursued on that platform. The things I have said.
I don't know if I am a good or a bad person. I don't know if Reddit was just a tool that enabled me to behave the way I did. I don't know why I go back. I don't know if I am alone in feeling this way.
I simply don't know.