I didn't know any better.

I thought it would be great to learn about things in forums on the internet and talk about issues by banging away on a computer, instead of the messy process of verbally discussing things with real people who would not only not agree with me, but work to change my mind ! They might call me a racist !

It's clear to me now that this is a bad approach. The anonymous nature of the internet has good and bad features. The identified internet such as Facebook and Twitter has a lot of bad features. It's much better to open your mouth and talk with people. You edit yourself better, you're careful to be kind, and the nonverbal portion of communication is huge and 100% missing online, these things notwithstanding :) :P :(