I used to think that anonymous comments bred ugliness because it gave people a way to be (even temporarily) racist, hateful, etc. with no consequences for their "real" offline self. The most interesting effect of so much commenting going on using Facebook is my discovery that people are just as willing to be outright racist and hateful in a million ways when their real name, picture, and main online identity are involved.
Well, let’s look at it from a historical perspective. In the past, before the Internet, the only place it was even possible to be anonymous was in writing – anonymous pamphlets, books written under pseudonyms, etc. Now, did these contain horrible behavior? No, the horrible behavior (as judged by the standards of the times) was associated with lower classes instead. The anonymous pamphlets and books written under pseudonyms were instead challenges to the status quo and the powers that be.
