Alina Naruszewicz-Duchlińska, “We misfits must stick together…”. The image of otherness in Polish Internet mailing lists
Key words:
Internet, Usenet, communication, otherness, tolerance
Summary:
Otherness on the Internet may by an integrating factor – thanks to this it is possible to belong to a chosen web microenvironment, such as those which comprise the Usenet, which is a forum of public discussions on specific issues. Within them, the word misfit is understood broadly – it is either someone whose opinion or behaviour deviates from generally accepted standards or someone who observes them too strictly. The term is used as mockery and insult, but also as an element of self-affirmation, which allows one to emphasise one’s merits against “others”. It is not a label with a permanently embedded pejorative appraising element, but a multi-level term.