You Know, in Many Ways I am an Easy-Going Guy...

[The Good Reverend Roger]

...But one thing that does set me off is when people are treated as objects, as less than people.  This is why I have so much fun slapping Brother Nihil around, for example...To him, women and minorities are animals. 

But it's not always that blatant.  Sometimes it's a bit more subtle...You've heard "you're just pixels on a screen" or "You are merely my entertainment" from people on the internet.  It's dehumanizing.  You have been reduced to an object in that person's eyes.

Those are both active forms of dehumanization.  The passive form is to merely refuse to acknowledge someone's existence.  That's not really okay, even if you hate the person...Not because I feel you should be all touchy-feely with people you hate, but because it damages YOU when you do it. 

Three examples:

1.  John tells Deborah, "You're nothing but a whore."  Active.

2.  Janet tells Lisa, "I'm not laughing with you, I'm laughing at you."

3.  Bob says hello to Sam on the way into the office.  Sam hears him, but ignores him and keeps on walking.

Funny thing is, #3 is the least blatant, yet most offensive of the bunch.  The first two, the active ones, at least address the person in question.  The third tells Bob that he is completely beneath notice.  The first two can happen due to butthurt (though that's no excuse for #1, at least), but the 3rd, the passive form, only happens out of malice.  Malice with the intent to humiliate.

And the one thing that redeems this miserable excuse for a death cult is this:  We treat people like people, not like animals or furniture.  At least most of the time.

Or Kill Me.

[Ben Shapiro]

Good one. What about passive aggressiveness?

[Salty]

People like that are shit.

I always wave and grin like an idiot, saying HEY, HEY WHAT'S UP DOOOOOD, to those people.

[Salty]

Passive aggressives could maybe do something different....

...like shove their heads into a blender.

A big blender.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Good one. What about passive aggressiveness?

Passive aggressiveness usually at least acknowledges the other person's existence.  If not, it fits more into example #2.

[Ben Shapiro]

Passive aggressives could maybe do something different....

...like shove their heads into a blender.

A big blender.

Oh OK.

[Ben Shapiro]

Good one. What about passive aggressiveness?

Passive aggressiveness usually at least acknowledges the other person's existence.  If not, it fits more into example #2.

Yeah I can see that now.

[Demolition Squid]

This hit some nerves for me.

I mentioned I recently left an online RPG community. I'd been a part of it - in various forms - for 8 years. I'd met people IRL because of it, had promises of places to stay if I ever made it over to the States, was in daily contact with a lot of these people in the game and through AIM.

When I announced I was leaving, I had 3 conversations about it on AIM, and received 1 email. I basically explained I wasn't having fun with it - no slight on anyone in particular, I might come back eventually bla bla bla. No hard feelings.

But... none of these people have initiated conversation since. I've got 36 AIM contacts from that place. If I don't say 'hi', they no longer ping me to chat. If I do, the conversation doesn't usually last very long. Its become obvious that they aren't - perhaps they never were - interested in who I am as a person. If I'm not providing the entertainment in the game, they aren't interested in me at all.

Its weird when there's a disconnect like that. I thought some of these people were friends. Obviously, I was just pixels on the screen. When I stopped giving them the pixels they wanted, they no longer had a use for me, so why bother chatting? As though the social element is just something you endure for the payoff of entertainment.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

But... none of these people have initiated conversation since. I've got 36 AIM contacts from that place. If I don't say 'hi', they no longer ping me to chat. If I do, the conversation doesn't usually last very long. Its become obvious that they aren't - perhaps they never were - interested in who I am as a person. If I'm not providing the entertainment in the game, they aren't interested in me at all.

Back in the bad old days, during the regime of Lauren/Malaul/Hugh, etc (2003/2004), Lauren once PMed me to say "We [the mods] really like your rants and feel that they add to the board, but we'd really rather you didn't post otherwise", or words to that effect.

Needless to say, that went over well.   

Same thing as you're describing.  "We like what you bring to the table...But you, not so much."  You are only worth the entertainment you provide, which does in fact dehumanize you. 

If I were in your shoes, I'd light them the fuck up.  But I'm a bit of a bastard.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

But... none of these people have initiated conversation since. I've got 36 AIM contacts from that place. If I don't say 'hi', they no longer ping me to chat. If I do, the conversation doesn't usually last very long. Its become obvious that they aren't - perhaps they never were - interested in who I am as a person. If I'm not providing the entertainment in the game, they aren't interested in me at all.

Back in the bad old days, during the regime of Lauren/Malaul/Hugh, etc (2003/2004), Lauren once PMed me to say "We [the mods] really like your rants and feel that they add to the board, but we'd really rather you didn't post otherwise", or words to that effect.

Needless to say, that went over well.   

Same thing as you're describing.  "We like what you bring to the table...But you, not so much."  You are only worth the entertainment you provide, which does in fact dehumanize you.

If I were in your shoes, I'd light them the fuck up.  But I'm a bit of a bastard.

Yep. It's like the way women feel when some creep we just met steers the conversation straight to "let's go fuck".
Translation: "You're just entertainment, and not only that, the only way I can be entertained by you is if you let me gouge around in your crotch."

This is essentially the same thing, except it's saying "You're entertainment, and you're only good entertainment when you're pissed."