I’ve been meaning to post about internet trolls and others who post anonymous, hateful and sometimes defamatory comments on websites for some time now. I normally don’t read the comment sections, particularly if it’s a political story and closer to home, if it involves Danny Williams or Yvonne Jones. (That’s why I never read the comment section at VOCM.) It’s not that I dislike Williams or Jones, but if you tune into any news site or blog with an agenda, you know what to expect in the comment section and it gets old really fast. To be honest, I do visit some sites just for the comments. Call it a guilty pleasure. It’s like watching FOX news for the shock factor. Did Glenn Beck really just say that?
Many people make articulate well thought out points. Some do it anonymously - for a varying of reasons - and truth be told, I’m fine with that. If it adds to the debate and people can calmly agree to disagree, it’s a good thing. Unfortunately, far more comments are hateful and resort to personal attacks of the messenger and not the message. Partisan political blogs south of he border are famous for this and both the left and the right are just as guilty. Many left wing bloggers are blaming Sarah Palin for yesterday’s tragedy in Arizona where Republican congresswomen Gabrielle Giffords has shot along with 18 others – six of whom died.
Whether they are mainstream media sites, political, religious, sports or entertainment blogs, twitter and so on – trolls are a fact of life. And what’s just as crass, are bloggers who post and mindlessly shoot back at a commenter who has the audacity to disagree. The anti-troll if you will. This is the MO for many political blogs – I’m right, you’re wrong and anything you say that I disagree with is bullshit. It’s the if-I-want-your-opinion-I’ll-give-it-to-you scenario. That gets old real fast too.
I came across this clip by Katie Couric of CBS news that speaks to the derogatory and hateful comments people made on hearing of the suicide of Marie Osmond’s son last spring. She refers to them as "anonymous atom bombs of animosity." She hits the nail on the head. The story and it's comments are worth reading.
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Couldn’t agree with you more Chris even though I speak from the shadows of anonymity. It’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately now that the political winds are shifting in this province. Some of the old nasty habits are revving up and it’s disconcerting – almost to the point that I’m thinking of pulling some entries out of the blogs-I-follow list. There are charges and counter charges and insults galore in some cases. All that it achieves is more bitterness and in a province as small as this, I don’t think we need more of that. I’d never heard the phrase ad hominem attacks until I got involved in the cyber world many years ago and now it seems to be the basic principle. Surely, there’s enough to talk about in this world without reverting to personal attacks. Good point.
ReplyDeleteIf there's one thing I really despise, it’s the personal attacks. The “buddy-your-mother-wears-army-boots” mentality does seem to reign supreme on many blogs, news websites and newsgroups. People can be so cruel too. An example, I always see is the thumbs down people give to a comment where someone wishes condolences to a tragedy. Some have the gall, to post vile comments about the incident or people who have died (like the Marie Osmond story Couric mentioned).
ReplyDeleteIf someone disagrees, feel free to say so. Just be civil about it. Otherwise don’t bother visiting the site.