The American Spectator

br> — Martin Kelly br> Glasgow, Scotland /p>

In the 19th century, the pistol was known as the Great Equalizer, because it allowed anyone, no matter how puny, to defeat the best-prepared opponent.

In the 20th century, the bomber allowed the destruction of men, women, and children one would never kill in face-to-face combat.

Now, in the 21st century, the Internet and the WWW allow anyone, no matter how marginally literate, to insult others in the most hostile and derogatory fashion. In fact, by surreptitiously gaining control over thousands of easily infected PCs, one is able to deny a web presence to anyone.

p>The power that the web affords Joe and Jane Ordinary is unprecedented and is limited only by one’s imagination and persistence. br> — David Govett br> Davis, California /p>

The other thing about e-mail snubs and flames is that they never go away. A rather unbalanced colleague of mine never caught on to this until he was eventually removed from the partnership — he’d always lived on delivering personal bluff and bluster, threats and intimidations, and then denying he had done so. With the power of the “send” button (not to mention voice mail) his professional coffin was soon nailed shut as the person insulted, demeaned, snubbed or otherwise taken to the cleaners now had irrefutable proof.

The other side of the coin, of course, being that some people learned to send scurrilous messages disguised as being from other people. It was considered in some quarters hugely funny to send a profession of undying love, for example, “from” a colleague to someone high up the organization. For some reason these jokers didn’t know that a trail would lead back to them.

p>The one thing that people seem slow to learn is that one is not anonymous on the Internet. Someone can always find out who you are.