GIFT: Difference between revisions

[[File:greaterdickwad_6440greaterdickwad 6440.jpg|frame|Close, but no Fuckwad. <ref>It works better if you put the stress on the last syllable, try it.</ref>]]

The '''[[Fun with Acronyms|'''G]]'''[[Fun with Acronyms|reater ]]'''[[Fun with Acronyms|I]]'''[[Fun with Acronyms|nternet ]]'''[[Fun with Acronyms|F]]'''[[Fun with Acronyms|uckwad ]]'''[[Fun with Acronyms|T]]'''[[Fun with Acronyms|heory]]. First [[Trope Namer|given a name]] by the boys at ''[[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]]'', it is a theory that seeks to illuminate why so many people seem to degenerate into antisocial, [[Cluster F-Bomb|pottymouthed]], [[Bias Steamroller|bigoted]] [[Jerkass|Jerkasses]]es online, when they might only be mildly unpleasant or even polite and affable in-person.

This phenomenon has been studied in an academic setting, and by all accounts the satirical analysis is spot-on; normal people become more aggressive when they think that their behavior carries no real-world social consequences. When people do not have to worry about getting in trouble with their loved ones, school, or employer, getting into a [[Talk to the Fist|direct]] [[Armor-Piercing Slap|physical]] [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown|altercation]] with anyone, or getting their [[Never Live It Down|reputation ruined forever]], they feel that they have nothing to lose being [[Jerkass|shameless, insufferable jerks]] behind the veil of anonymity that is [[The Internet|the Intertubes]].

The idea of anonymity's irresistible corruption due to lack of consequences and escape from [[Big Brother Is Watching|restraints caused by being watched]] is extremely pervasive. Think of the people who leave unholy messes in public restrooms. Nobody sees them do it, and they almost certainly wouldn't make a mess in their own home where they'd have to clean it up ([[Trash of the Titans|hopefully]]), or their friend's/relative's, when it'd be obvious who did it. The basic idea [[Older Than Feudalism|was first proposed by]] [[Plato]] in ''The Republic'', where he recounts the myth of the [[wikipedia:Ring of Gyges|Ring of Gyges]], one of the original [[Invisible Jerkass]] stories.