Blog Material

THE BLOG CESSPOOL

I don’t normally read geek stuff, not being a geek myself (geek being a term of endearment, at least for these purposes).  But the other day I was in my doctor’s office and picked up a recent, but old copy of Time Magazine.

Lev Grossman is their Nerd writer.  He writes about the internet and stuff that I’m only vaguely familiar with. But I am familiar with the subject he was tackling in this issue.  The comments made to other comments made by other bloggers.

Now, for the most part, the blogs I read are civil…the majority of the time.  But, boy, can they go downhill fast.  And there seem to be a lot of bloggers who are just waiting to be offended.  This morning, in fact, I replied to a post with an obviously sarcastic comment which was not taken as such by the original poster.  When I pointed out it was sarcasm, he apologized…but originally he was ready to pounce.

The political posts are the worst.  “I hope that SOB dies a lingering death and rots in Hell” wrote one poster, commenting about the Pope, for Heaven’s sake.  If words could kill, George Bush and Dick Cheney would have been dead long ago, several times over.

If we were to take the blogs at face value, Barack Obama’s birth certificate is forged, he’s a secret muslim, he was born in Kenya, and he had a sleazy homosexual affair in the back seat of a limo while smoking crack.  According to the blogs, newly minted Republican VP nominee, Sarah Palin’s Down’s syndrome child is actually her granddaughter by her 17 year old daughter, she is a member of the Aryan nation (she was born in Sandy Point, Idaho, her maiden name is Heath, and her kids were all given Norse names, like Piper, Willow and Bristol…well known Norse names).

The personal attacks on others are downright hateful and mean-spirited, cruel and many times, scatological.  If you should dare go in, shower after you come out.

It would take more than my outdated Psych 101 or Sociology 102 mentality (when I took it, Margaret Mead was smart) to figure out why people, using the anonymity of the web resort to such unseemly behavior.  Is it a way to let off steam?  Perhaps it’s a reflection of a really unhappy life.  As I said, it’s beyond me.

And if that’s not good enough…I’ll tell you where you can go…