Discourse

I pay attention to politics. Probably too much. On my FB feed I get news updates. And I comment on the stories sometimes. I usually comment in ways that are snarky but also along the lines of the truth. Or the truth from my perspective. Because, isn't that we have? Our truth or view of it?

People reply or like the comments. I don't really care what they say. They have their own opinion and I was foolish enough to put out my opinion in an online forum. The replies to my comments show more about who they are than any in person meeting probably ever would.

I left a comment on a CNN story. I don't even remember what it was. I got a number of replies. Some disagreed with my postulation. But then there was one, "You look like a HOMO!!" That puzzled me. If the reply you put out to a comment is a homophobic bullying rant, then you really have no way to win. You have just revealed more about yourself to every person reading the comment section than you normally would riding around with a anti-gay bumper sticker on the back of your beat up Chevy truck.

I followed that thread a bit to see if someone would take him to task for the comment. No one did, but the comment also disappeared in a few hours. He had a fit of decency? Thought better about the hateful comment? Got bored because I didn't engage and protest, "Nuh unh!!" So his trollish behavior was to get a rise out of someone and have a flame war because you have nothing better to do with your day while you pine away at your shitty job in a tiny cubicle? Cool.

I read the comments of some stories without commenting on the story and I'm horrified by the screaming lunacy that abounds in the populace. You can tell what news channel people watch by their views, arguments, and language. It's really kind of sad to see the closed minded people in our country. We have all this freedom to think whatever we want, worship or not worship any way we want, and the hateful shit which comes across in the comment section shows we are one meteor strike away from cannibalism.

Their comments don't refute someone's argument point by point, it is name calling and foul language. Personal attacks on people they will never meet. It is reflected in the presidential candidates. Though one is the uneducated name calling 5th grade bully. I don't mean to disparage 5th graders, but he reflects their rather rudimentary language choices.

I do hope after the election people lighten the fuck up and put away the flame throwers. But I kind of doubt it. The internet is a great place to anonymously savage people who disagree with you.

When aliens find the remnants of our civilization, sometime in the near or far future, I hope they don't find the really ugly hateful part.