These days I find it difficult to read some of the comments offered on Facebook or Twitter.
But like a moth drawn to a flame, I sometimes can’t stop myself. When I do, I usually come away upset and shaking my head in disbelief at the name-calling and gutter-sniping that seems to be a regular part of the discourse, no matter the subject.
I truly can’t recall a time when people were so openly vicious in their interactions with others whose views differed from their own.
It seems that everyone has an opinion and is not afraid to express it. While I’m not opposed to folks offering their take on matters, I am not a fan of the senseless, hateful conversations (if you can call them that) which tend to dominate social media.
What’s even more concerning is that people wade into the fray before learning all the relevant details.
Facts? Pffttt! Who needs those when people can proceed to slander the next person because…well, because they can and feel they are entitled to do so.
Informed research? Too time-consuming. Besides, it’s much easier to piggyback off someone else’s misinformed comments, especially if they say what you want to hear.
Dignified rhetoric? Well, that doesn’t get any attention. The name of the game appears to be penning the nastiest, most vitriolic comments in a contest of one-upmanship. (It is interesting to note that those who usually write such garbage are very thin-skinned individuals who lash out when someone dares to call them on it.)
Many will argue that they are entitled to their opinion, and while that may be true, such entitlement does not extend to vicious name-calling, stated untruths, or defamation.
At one time that would have meant being slapped with a law suit. But some folks think hiding behind a computer screen somehow gives them immunity from such retribution. (It’s a shame that most individuals in the receiving end of such comments face a long and costly legal battle to set things right, so they choose not to proceed.)
In an age where we are trying to curb bullying among young people, adults think nothing of taking to the Internet to spew their own contempt and hatred.
Instead of teaching youngsters that disagreement is fine, but it should be done in a fair and informed manner, children are learning that standing up for one’s beliefs means running down anyone who doesn’t think (or look) like them.
We live in scary times when the misinformed have somehow managed to hijack reasonable debate and do so by acting like bullies.
Someone once said, “We don’t see others as they are, but as we are.”
If that’s true, then there are a significant number of folks out there who have very low opinions of themselves.
