The title of this post actually comes from part of the lyrics to the song "Take a Look Around" by Limp Bizkit, which appeared on the Mission: Impossible 2 soundtrack, but I believe it is true to some extent.

In my travels through the Internet, I've seen a lot of hate in comments, blogs and websites. The biggest example of this was when I was looking into the whole Casey Serin situation. All the comments on his blog came from essentially three classes of readers: People who supported him, people who hated him (whom he referred to as "Haterz") and people who tried to make suggestions and give advice.

These "Haterz" are nothing new. Look in any forum or public place on the Internet, and you'll find flaming, hate and other personal attacks at people. Serin, however, takes it to the next level; there are dedicated websites and blogs criticizing and attacking him. On Serin's final Talkshoe Talkcast, one caller even began yelling at Serin, telling him to get off the Internet.

The purpose of this post isn't to attack individual opinions in anyway. I see the points that the "Haterz" blogs have made with respect to Serin, and understand the point that is being made. In listening to Serin's final Talkcast, he didn't leave me with a very positive impression. I even just posted a fairly negative review of the Hillary Duff movie A Cinderella Story on the Movies application in Facebook which could be viewed as an angry post. My question is why people feel the need to direct such anger and hate while spending time and resources on it.

Let me use this thread in HowardForums as my example. A poster writes a message, the question may or may not be a stupid one (depends on who you ask). A lot of people start shooting back and him/her and s/he starts attacking other writers. The question is essentially answered in the thread, but why do people want to keep writing more attacks? Is there a need to feel some personal victory by lashing out at someone?

Maybe it's from the nature of the Internet: People feel that they are anonymous and can write whatever they feel like without others learning who they are and coming after them. But it's one thing to express an opinion and another to begin making attacks at people.

Which brings me back the "Haterz". It's clear a lot of time and thought has gone into their sites, and many of them express very strong opinions or attack Serin. Is what he does so important to their lives that it's worth getting angry and writing about? Maybe it is. Maybe it's just become easy to criticize and attack Serin because he's an easy target. Or maybe people just need a way to vent their own frustrations in life by taking it out on someone else.

Hate seems to be all the world, or at least Internet, has seen lately.