I am going to burn down the Internet.
Posted by magflare on February 24, 2008
It’s for its own good, you know. It needs to be purged, and that weighty responsibility falls to me. I just need to find out where they keep it.
Although I’ve got dozens of perfectly valid reasons to choose from, the reason for my resolution is the hubbub – or possibly rigamarole? – surrounding one of Will Smith’s recent statements. (I’m not typically the sort of person who keeps up with celebrities and the sorts of things they say, but I became aware of this while reading the News Channel on the Wii between bouts of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, so that ought to preserve a bit of my geek credibility.) Anyways, apparently Smith made the comment during an interview that there’s a little good in everyone, and that Hitler probably didn’t wake up each morning desiring to do evil. Not a very controversial statement. Actually, as a humanist – despite years of exposure to the Internet – I’ve got to point out that this is an extremely mature and wise viewpoint, not least because it agrees with mine.
The Internet being what it is, this was immediately interpreted as “WILL SMITH XOXO HITLER 4-EVAR ALSO PROLLY THEY SEX EACH OTHAR IN TEH BUTT.” Celebrity rumor-mill TMZ, embodying the sort of journalistic integrity that the Interwebs are known for, posted this, which bears two exciting titles: “Hitler, Schmitler; He Wasn’t That Bad” and “Jews Not Jiggy with Fresh Putz of Bel Air.” That alone is profoundly stupid in ways that only a crossbreed between entertainment culture and Internet culture can be, but, as always, the corruption is revealed in sharpest detail in the comments section.
Some observations:
These guys really like to pretend they’re addressing the celebrity himself, rather than a bunch of neckbearded forum-posters like themselves. There’s something oddly unhealthy about that. You get the feeling that, if left alone in his house, they’d immediately gravitate for, and start sniffing the contents of, his sock drawer.
One of the most common comments was “he needs to learn to shut his mouth and just read the lines written for him.” A worrying sentiment – that people in certain segments of the population shouldn’t be permitted to voice opinions – and one that I’d hoped would have sort of evaporated in the post-post-9/11 world. Guess not!
I’d like to think that the reason for the hullabaloo is this: Smith suggested that Hitler wasn’t some sort of monster with entirely alien motives, but rather a human being with understandable albeit deeply flawed goals, and that made people uncomfortable because they’d prefer to believe that Hitler somehow falls outside the range of human behavior – that there are levels of evil which humans are simply incapable of, handily redefining anyone who is capable of that sort of evil right out of the human race. It’s a comforting notion, and it’d be okay (if a bit cowardly and puerile) if the people who reacted so strongly to Smith’s statement were in fact discomposed by the thought that perhaps anyone, given a certain set of conditions, could have become Hitler, but I don’t think that’s what’s bothering them. I think what actually happened is this: a celebrity said something that, with a little imagination, could be taken as not adequately negative about Hitler, and it is the nature of pop culture junkies to tear down the very idols they raise up.
I guess I Am Legend sort of sucked? I don’t know, I didn’t see it.
