User:EnzoZHOU117/sandbox

=Keyboard man （keyboard warrior）=

Origin
Keyboard man, also known as keyboard warrior was originated from a comic created by a web cartoonist named Biantailajiao(变态辣椒). It refers to people who claim to fight for justice on the internet instead of applying their moral standard in real situations. This phenomenon has existed for a long time, but “Keyboard man” became popular in network after a sensational event happened.

On May 28, 2014, six cult members killed a defenseless woman in a McDonald restaurant in Zhaoyuan City, Shandong Province, China. Although there were many witnesses, none of them took direct actions to stop this outrage. After this event, many netizens expressed strong indignation that why no one dared to stand against this ruffians. Afterwords, this censure gradually became online attacks towards the witnesses. However, there emerged another voice doubting the feasibility of the criticism for the reason that these judgements were not based on the experience of real situations.

Further discussion: On June 4, 2014, People’s Daily published an editorial Encouraging public to be a good Samaritan can not rely on Keyboard man, which triggered the nationwide discussion about keyboard man.

From individual (psychological) perspective:

 * Being a keyboard warrior demands nearly no real responsibility for their online judgements. In real situations, the evaluation of possible costs of standing out and behave as a hero is considered necessary by most people. However, there exists no apparent costs and danger of speaking out and criticizing other’s words or behaviours online.
 * Usually keyboard men have two set of moral standards. In their mind, higher moral or perfect moral requirements are installed on the judgement on other’s behaviours. Definite purity demand on others is one of the significant psychological elements of the characteristics of Keyboard men. However, what is controversial is that when it comes to themselves, they usually use a more merciful set of moral standard.
 * Acting as Keyboard men helps them gain the sense of achievement and satisfaction. From judging and criticizing another's words and behaviours, Keyboard warriors realize their dream of being a morality and justice fighter and obtain the self-identification and self-honor. This can be interpreted as one of the most important motivation of keyboard men as they sometimes may not be offered to or not be able to gain the self-identification and self-honor from their real lives.

From social perspective:

 * A rapid improvement in Internet technology in recent years makes online communication     another important part of people’s social life, which provides a platform for ordinary people to express their opinions. It becomes a stage for keyboard-man to act like a hero. It is easier and more convenient to be brave and just in virtual Internet world. Compared to real situation, Internet provide more easy access and chances for Keyboard men to act as a “hero”. This feature contributes to the spread and growth of Keyboard man phenomenon.
 * From another perspective, the born of keyboard-man is the product of the whole social environment as an context. In today’s China, it becomes a tough choice whether to help people in need due to the possibility of being framed (Pengci碰瓷) such as Peng’s case (彭宇案), which lead to the dehumanizing and moral-decrease phenomenon. The popularity of keyboard-man is the product of this kind of social environment.

Possible effect
The Keyboard men, or keyboard warriors, have a serious impact on communications on social network. Their diverse opinions could be regarded as the manifestation of free speech or the cause of fierce quarrels and rumors on the internet. As Madan suggests:

"Marked with a great sense of openness, social media has proven itself to be the greatest bastion of free speech with governments usually refraining from interfering in this domain. Users online are posting, uploading photos and videos and commenting about the reckless utterances of irresponsible politicians, without considering how it vilifies other groups or persons."

The urge to express themselves makes them very irritable. So their opinion may not based on precise information since they do not have enough patience to dig into the case and study it carefully. Thus their views are more likely to be influenced by stereotypical thinking and the content could be biased and offensive. They also tend to use an absolute way to stress their opinion which could be regarded as being aggressive. As a result, in many occasions, they are responsible for causing chaos and spreading false information on social networks. Moreover, as Bi, a commentator from the People’s Daily, suggests, having double standard will not contribute to a harmonious society. The keyboard men who call for justice and good samaritan acts on the internet would not act as they promised in reality. They blame other people’s apathy while finding excuses for themselves to avoid taking action. Their passion for seeking justice is mostly released by arguing on the internet, thus, in reality, they lack the motivation of being the justice fighter. In a word, although the keyboard men are seeking for good moral models, judging by their reaction towards the misdeed in real life, they are no better than those apathetic people whom the keyboard men despite.
 * Effect on online communication
 * Effect on social atmosphere