Today is a random post dedicated to a very random subject matter; in fact, i really don't think anything gets any random-er than this. i speak of the internet. yes, this is an impulsive, spur-of-the-moment tribute to the very system that this blog and so many other wondrous things exist on.
my first encounter with the internet was sometime in lower primary school, when i was only concerned with using it for the inane school projects that primary schools seem to love throwing at us (after all, making us copy and paste copious walls of text into word documents is obviously the best way to teach and instill a sense of curiosity in us). back then, the internet to me was just like a book made simpler; an encyclopedia filled with all the boring information a teacher could ever want to grade, except with google and ctrl-c/v. so that was how i treated it.
then when i was pri 6, entering sec 1, i noticed that the internet was more than just an encyclopedia; it wasn't just a resource of information, but also of games (i still remember how it all began: Neopets *shudder*). i started to take a liking to the internet, but only as far as it helped me download the game client or run the server. the internet had evolved from a library to a toy store.
that perception of the internet persisted in my mind throughout secondary school, and even for the first half of my SH1 life the internet was nothing more than a game catalogue. but it was only then that i finally stumbled upon the most important component of the internet: the people. the forums, the comment boxes, that is where the internet truly lives. suddenly, i found the way people act in a world where they are gifted with perfect anonymity, in a world with absolutely no purpose, is truly fascinating. it's almost like seeing what the ants in an ant farm would do without the need for food, water or subservience to a queen. the existence of trolls suggests that it is possible to enjoy the suffering of another even when he could be halfway around the world; complete rejection of logic seems to be encouraged with random memes such as lolcats and bacon persisting through the ages even as new ones such as kanye west get added; and yet even in the midst of anarchy it appears that people have an innate sense of community, creating their own in-jokes that outsiders could never comprehend and even a few unspoken rules (i think Rule 34 embodies both points quite well. assuming, of course, that you actually know what it is ;) )
it's like the ultimate social experiment. it's like the ultimate sandbox.
it's the internet.
