Was it Newton?

Every action creates an equal and opposite reaction?

How do you think this applies, or doesn't apply to the dynamics on internet boards?

Yes that was Newton, (Isaac... not Fig ) and of course he was talking about mathematically describing the motion of objects, but I do believe we can turn it toward philosophy and apply it there as well.

I am a firm believer in taking responsibility for one's own situation, one's own happiness. Part of doing that is to realize that all of our actions have consequenses. I'm not sure about "equal and opposite" but they do have consequenses. Sometimes those consequenses are unforseeable to us... such as saying something that we mean to help that someone takes the wrong way and gets angry. When that happens, some people still choose not to take responsibility for that... even if it was unintentional, it is good to understand and acknowledge that your words hurt someone. The worst part is someone who not only does not take responsibility, but goes on continuing to behave the same way even though those actions are hurting people. They think that just because the hurt is unintentional that it is OK to repeat. Lather, rinse, repeat.

The other side of the coin is that sometimes our LACK of actions also have consequences, and we must accept responsibility for that too.

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--http://www.idexter.com