Face-to-face communication usually requires a civility that anonymity or distance does not. And, as a result, bluntness, hostility, and resentment can appear in cyberspace, where emotions are freed from the required niceties of public life. Racism thus appears on the Internet in a much more virulent form.

In cyberspace, racism is magnified; those who would not express racist ideas in public are offered a virtual catharsis by the faceless screen. Targets of racism face the truth of how the Internet racist feels about them, even though the cathartic cyber screamer may interact with them civilly in public life.

However, complexity enters into the behavior when the Internet racist feels both freedom to vent racial hostility online and guilt for betraying those with whom he or she has a positive relationship in the outside world. Since racism is always a generalization, the racist comments of the anonymous Internet user may in fact be directed at only a few, though presumably read by many. This causes a domino effect, where targets of racial Internet abuse respond in kind. Consequently, this further confirms and exacerbates the racist opinions held by the initiator of the cyber rant.

And it becomes a vicious cycle of anonymous users fleeing to the open arms of the Internet to hide behind a screen and throw daggers at their enemies. Then, those “enemies” respond to the harsh comments of the initiator with their own insults, validating the claims of the initiator and guaranteeing that the cathartic cyber ranter will be back for more.

It becomes a drug for both parties, each wishing to one-up the other with cutting insults, each wishing to “win” by delivering the final blow – or at least temporarily stun the opponent with the ugliest possible insult. In fact, nasty comments become much more exciting to respond to and read than kind and/or informative one. And the Internet becomes a battlefield rather than an information vehicle or tool.

Honesty is an important quality, and freedom of speech allows people to voice their concerns, but the Internet warps racism by magnifying both the appearance of and reaction to racist comments: Internet racists usually do not act that way in daily life, and responders to racist comments are not usually faced with blunt racism in public life and therefore never have to respond in kind. In effect, the Internet brings out the worst in both groups, who are fueled and justified in their actions by the acid fingertips of the other, which creates a vicious cycle of increasing hostility.

The Internet is an ingenious invention that turns the world into a bendable material that allows instant contact between people separated by continents and delivers important information to the doorsteps of users with the click of a mouse. But it also facilitates the birth the of toxic alter egos that, instead of confronting the real problems in public life, resort to punishing anonymous Internet users with their unique experiences that have been generalized to cover entire racial groups. This triggers a vicious cycle of cyber abuse that further warps the alter ego and actual person behind it, and breeds paranoia in public life, where no one knows what anyone else really thinks about them.