The Christians of Tertullian's day didn't make anonymous slash-and-run comments in internet comboxes, so I imagine his observation was without irony. Then again, some of those drawings on the catacomb walls were pretty snarky. 😊

This kind of communication has it's good and bad points. A bad one is that, because we aren't face to face, we become tempted to see those we communicate with not as human beings but as abstractions. 

When we have real relationships with people we give them permission to be different. We know them, so we don't reduce them down to ideologies or points of view. For example, I love my ultraconservative uncle and I know he's a good guy, so I don't form my view of him based on politics alone. But that doesn't happen here. 

I've often been struck by the thought that posters on this site could be saying some of these rude and cutting things to their own friends and family members without realizing it. I try to keep that in the back of my mind whenever I post.