6th
Comments
At my old blog, I was fortunate enough to be right in the commenting sweetspot: just well enough read to have loyal, intelligent readers who would post the occasional thought of their own; not well enough known to attract the crazies. It’s pretty much the ideal situation (as far as commenting goes).
Not everyone is so lucky. Esquire, in fact, dedicated a short column to it in this month’s issue: “Major Human Flaw: Posting inane comments online.” This thought by stand up comedian Mike Birbiglia seemed especially relevant to me: “It’s as if Brian Williams finished every segment by saying ‘That’s all I got. Now, does anybody have any batshit zany e-mails they’d like me to read out loud?’”
Why did that seem relevant? Because of the comments posted after this column by Robert Novak, a recap by the noted political commentator on just how he’s doing in his fight with cancer and how he came to be diagnosed with the disease. I don’t know Mr. Novak terribly well—we’ve met a couple of times; I’m sure he wouldn’t remember my name—but I do know that saying terrible, terrible things about a person diagnosed with terminal brain cancer is a bad thing to do. You’ll notice I didn’t say anything about Ted Kennedy when he got sick.
Simple human decency doesn’t stop the average idiot commenter, however. Check it out. How can you type things like “You should be in jail for helping to expose a covert CIA agent! You should be prosecuted for treason! But, fortunately for you, you committed your crime during the ‘through-the-looking glass’ period of the Bush Jr. administration where former coke-heads become President; and war hero’s are ‘swift-boated’!” in response to a column about a person’s health? Why bother? Why venture out of the fever swamps to spew hatred? Even one commenter who had something nice to say ended the post with “Having said that, I must note, I do not agree with your political views.” No, you “must” not note that. You want to note it. And for no other reason than your petty insecurities.
I realize that idiot commenters are nothing new to the blogosphere. It’s still an awfully depressing phenomenon.
