Our experiences in life drive our opinions. And at one time the only folks who knew your opinions were those closest to you: family, friends and maybe a few co-workers. We didn’t have to agree but we respected another’s position and left it at that.

Times have changed.

The Internet has expanded our reach to share our opinions, thoughts, and comments. But what once was (or seemed) to be civility has morphed into that which is nasty, vile, and often malicious. The Internet has taken the veil off of the drunken rant. The drunken rant is when people often show more of their true colors and their true thoughts.

The Internet has made it very easy for people you don’t know to say things online that they would NEVER say to your face.

I see a lot of this on Twitter. I love how @guestprofile will send you a tweet/reply that’s downright nasty. When you look up their profile though, you don’t see a real person or an interesting profile or a real name. And more often than not, the folks who are throwing the most bulls#!+ are the ones who aren’t sharing their real names. Coincidence?

As I already mentioned, it’s lifting the veil. These comments are an excellent indication of where we are and where we aren’t. Comments and tweets are showing just how anti-gay, anti-religion, racist, anti-semitic, and misogynous people are today.

For others that do share their real names online, do they think before they write? A lot of people do. I can’t tell you just how many times I’ve written a comment to a status update or a tweet and deleted it. Maybe after reviewing I realized it wasn’t funny or it could easily be misconstrued.

What would the world be like if what was said so openly on the ‘net was said to someone’s face?

Have you had any comments to your blog, tweets or even a Facebook status page that you felt was over the top?