At no point during any of this do I want to smack a kid over the head for having a moron's viewpoint. It's part of growing up, and moving past stupid views that you had is part of becoming an adult. It's the primary separation of maturity; the ability to accept, and not just pretend to accept, the fact that you may be wrong and that your judgment may not always be the best, and then correcting yourself when given the chance.

Very well said, JT. The internet gives us endless more opportunities to be a moron and learn from being a moron. Kids grow up faster because there is always an audience for anything anyone says online. The downside is everything that we write is saved, indexed, searched, and can be read over and over again for an undetermined amount of time. If my father said something idiotic when he was 14, the scope and impact of his stupidity was limited to whoever was in earshot. Today, hundreds or thousands or millions can read and listen to whatever shit you are spewing.

You can fall very, very quickly and very hard if you aren't careful. Sites like encyclopedia dramatica exists solely to save the shit stupid people do and say online. Luckily, most are smart enough to hide their identities behind a few usernames or go fully anonymous. Others aren't so lucky.