網絡時代,人身攻擊的時代?(圖)

Steven Fink recently received an unsolicited email containing nude photos of a woman whose jilted ex-boyfriend wanted to embarrass her. The guy presumably hoped these private photos would go viral online, and now countless strangers are obliging him in his mean-spirited campaign.
史蒂芬•芬克(Steven Fink)最近收到一封陌生郵件，裏頭有一名女子的幾張裸照，遭到這名女子拋棄的前男友想羞辱她。那個人想來是希望這些私密照片能在網上廣爲傳播；而現在無數陌生人也確實在充當幫兇，參與到他這個居心不良的行爲當中。

In the pre-Internet age, the dumped boyfriend may have expressed his anger by throwing darts at her photo. These days, however, the outlets for vindictiveness have multiplied almost to infinity -- and your reputation is more fragile than ever.
在互聯網時代之前，男人被甩後可能會對着前女友的照片擲飛鏢，以此泄憤。但如今，發泄的途徑近乎無窮無盡──人們的名譽變得前所未有的易受攻擊。

All of us now live under the threat of easy and instant humiliation. It's no longer just celebrities and business executives who need to think about aggressive reputation-protection and face-saving techniques.

羞辱別人變得如此簡便和快捷，而我們每個人都活在這種威脅之下。以前只有名人和公司高管需要考慮採取積極措施保護自己名譽，學習挽回臉面的技巧；但現在，這已成爲一種大衆需求。

Not long ago, people who routinely plugged their own names into online search engines were thought to be engaging in 'vanity Googling.' These days, it is an act of self-preservation. 'Google yourself at least once a week,' advises Richard Levick, who heads a strategic communications firm in Washington, D.C. 'You need to track what's being said about you' on blogs, message boards and social-networking websites.
不久前，總在網絡搜索引擎查詢自己名字的行爲被視爲虛榮心使然。如今，這是一種自我保護的手段。華盛頓一家公關公司的負責人理查德•萊維克(Richard Levick)說，每週至少搜索一次你的名字，隨時留心關於你的網上言論，無論是在博客、論壇，還是在交友網站上。

Any time you leave your house, you could be targeted. Drive over to Wal-Mart for a gallon of milk and you may end up on . The site -- not, needless to say, affiliated with the retailer -- runs smirk-inducing photos of overweight or oddly dressed shoppers, most of them sent in by other shoppers.
只要你走出家門，也許就會成爲別人的目標。開車去沃爾瑪(Wal-Mart)買盒牛奶，你的照片就可能被登在上。這個網站並不是沃爾瑪搞的，主要張貼一些肥胖人士或奇裝異服的沃爾瑪購物者的搞笑照片，大多是其他購物者拍攝並上傳的。

Such sites raise the question: Have we become a more malicious society? There are differing views.
這類網站不禁讓我們提出一個疑問：我們這個社會是不是變得越來越惡毒了？對此，人們的觀點不一。

'Human nature hasn't changed,' says Jonathan Bernstein, a crisis consultant in Los Angeles. 'There have always been people whose aim in life was to cause pain to others. If they saw people embarrassing themselves, they got pleasure in sharing that information. Before the Internet, they had to gossip with their neighbors. Now they can gossip with the world.'
“人性並沒有改變，”洛杉磯危機管理顧問喬納森•伯恩斯坦(Jonathan Bernstein)說，“總有這樣一種人，存在的目的就是給他人帶來痛苦。如果他們看到別人的尷尬之事，就想搞得盡人皆知，並以此爲樂。沒有互聯網的時候，他們只能跟鄰居竊竊私語；而現在，他們可以跟全世界的人八卦一下。”

Others argue that there has been a ratcheting up of meanness -- that the changes in technology have made us nastier and more cynical. 'It's like a blood sport,' says Mr. Fink, who runs a crisis-management firm in Los Angeles. 'It feels like everyone has their cellphone out, ready to take a photo that will hurt someone else.'
另一種觀點認爲，人性的卑鄙一面確實在不斷滋生壯大──科技進步讓人們變得更爲齷齪，更加玩世不恭。“這是一種傷人的消遣，”在洛杉磯經營一家危機管理公司的芬克說，“似乎每個人都拿着手機，隨時準備拍下一些給他人帶來不利影響的照片。”

It's as if all of us now have our own printing presses and our own television studios, and we can use them for good or for evil. The problem is that too many of us succumb to the anonymity of the Web, says Parry Aftab, a cyber-security attorney based in Irvington, N.Y. 'We're braver when we type. We don't have to look someone in their eyes. It's easier to be vicious, to cross the line between funny and cruel.'
科技的進步，讓我們彷佛擁有了自己的報紙和電視臺，可以用來幹好事，也可以用來幹壞事。紐約州俄溫頓(Irvington)一位網絡安全律師派瑞•阿夫泰伯(Parry Aftab)說，問題在於太多的人沉迷於網絡的匿名特性而不可自拔。“我們用鍵盤打字時，會變得更大膽，因爲不必直接跟別人的眼睛對視。如此一來，人們更容易釋放出人性惡的一面，模糊了搞笑和殘忍之間的界線。”


The epidemic of online belittling is also fueled by reality television, which has helped create 'a culture of humiliation,' argues Nicolaus Mills, a professor of American studies at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, N.Y. When untalented singers are ridiculed in the early rounds of 'American Idol,' when contestants are dismissed on 'The Apprentice,' when B-list actors reveal their addictions on 'Celebrity Rehab,' viewers get to feel superior.
紐約州布隆維爾市薩拉勞倫斯學院(Sarah Lawrence College)研究美國文化的尼古拉斯•米爾斯(Nicolaus Mills)教授說，在網絡上對別人缺乏尊重的流行現象也受到真人秀電視節目推波助瀾的影響，這種節目助長了一種“羞辱文化”。大衆選秀節目“美國偶像”(American Idol)前幾輪那些不太出衆的選手飽受奚落，“飛黃騰達”（The Apprentice，又名“學徒”，美國NBC電視臺播放的真人秀節目，在一羣壯志雄心的商界人士中，選拔一個年薪25萬美元的人，成爲美國著名地產大王Donald Trump的徒弟，爲Trump集團效力。）中的選手被一一淘汰，二線演員在“名人健康俱樂部”(Celebrity Rehab)節目中爆料說出自己的弱點。在這樣的時候，觀衆都會感受到一種自我優越感。

'

The urge to humiliate is also obvious in today's divisive politics, where adversaries often seem intent on ruining each other, says Dr. Mills. Putdown humor, on both the left (Jon Stewart) and the right (Rush Limbaugh), has replaced the gentler humor of say, Bill Cosby or Bob Newhart, who found laughs in the idea that 'all of us are in this together.
米爾斯說，在如今爭鬥不休的政壇，想令對手難堪的意願也是顯而易見，對手之間往往都想毀掉對方的名譽。無論是左翼的“每日秀”主持人及諷刺專家喬恩•史都華(Jon Stewart)，還是右翼的廣播節目主持人及保守派政治評論員拉希•林波(Rush Limbaugh)，攻擊性的幽默已經成爲一種主流，替代比爾•科斯比(Bill Cosby或鮑勃•紐瓦特(Bob Newhart)那種更爲柔和的搞笑方式，後者的幽默既讓人發大笑，卻又讓人感覺到“我們大家都不完美”。


Even in sports, there is a rising specter of humiliation. In boxing, once your opponent is down on the mat, the fighting stops. But the rage now is Ultimate Fighting, which is all about beating an opponent into submission. Fighters can hit opponents when they're on the ground in defenseless positions. YouTube is filled with videos of these gruesome matches.
即使在體育競技領域，羞辱對手的現象也愈來愈多。在一般的拳擊比賽中，對手倒下意味着比賽的結束；但現在流行的“終極格鬥大賽”(Ultimate Fighting)，要把對手打得服輸纔算完。當對手倒下並處於無法防禦的狀態時，另一方依然可以進行攻擊。YouTube上充斥着這類血腥比賽的視頻。

Meanwhile, it can be sobering and instructive to watch the speed with which high-profile people are publicly humiliated these days. Consider Whitney Houston. Last month, concertgoers overseas captured her poor performances on their cellphone video cameras. Within hours, clips of her mangling 'I Will Always Love You' were all over the Internet, derailing her latest comeback attempt.
如今，名人被公開羞辱的速度之快也令人歎爲觀止，並理應引起我們的反思。拿惠特妮•休斯頓(Whitney Houston)來說，她在2010年4月的一場海外演出中表現欠佳，觀衆紛紛用手機拍下視頻。幾個小時內，那首被搞砸的經典名曲“我將一直愛你”(I Will Always Love You)就在網上廣爲傳播，她的最新一次復出嘗試就此脫離軌道。


Things used to be less immediate and toxic. A couple of decades ago, Linda McCartney's off-key vocals, allegedly lifted from a Wings concert soundboard, were only aired by renegade DJs.
以前，這種事情不會流傳得那麼快，影響也沒那麼惡劣。幾十年前，琳達•麥卡尼(Linda McCartney)走音的歌曲錄音（據說是從一場名爲Wings的演出中錄下來的）只被惡意的DJ播放過幾次。

When it comes to spreading ridicule, the Web is now a hodgepodge of celebrity takedowns and videos of ugly brides or of kids who can't sing in the school play. Young people these days are especially vulnerable to such attacks, since so much of their lives are lived online.
網絡已經成爲傳播尷尬事情的主渠道，其內容堪比大雜燴，既有名人的露醜記錄，又有難看的新娘，還有在學校表演中唱不出歌的小孩子。年輕人尤其容易在網絡上受到羞辱，因爲他們有很大一部分生活都是在網上度過的。

The word 'humiliation' is rooted in the Latin word humus, which means 'dirt.' Too much of our online world is now devoted to dirt, 'to the enterprise of immediately spreading embarrassing moments, or of exaggerating people's foibles,' says Dr. Mills, the American studies professor.
“羞辱”(humiliation)這個詞來源於拉丁語“humus”，意思是“污物”(dirt)。研究美國文化的米爾斯說，我們的網絡世界如今有很大一部分用在了陰暗的東西上，比如說快速傳播他人的尷尬、誇大他人的缺陷等等。

He believes things can improve if more of us make a simple pledge, telling ourselves: 'We're better than that.'
米爾斯相信，情況還是可以有所改善的，條件是更多的人能夠約束自己，對自己說一句，我們絕不同流合污。