I noticed a few months ago that whenever a Taylor Swift song came on the radio, Dayton would start ranting about her. It surprised me that he was so...venomous about it. I also noticed that in our society there are those who have to make a huge deal out of spewing hate about various celebrities and well-known figures. Now, I'll be honest, there are some things in this world that I wish would go away: Jersey Shore, gangsta rap, and Two Broke Girls being my top "Do Not Like At All" list, but I am amazed by the vitriol that people on the internet when it comes to the likes of Taylor Swift, Nickelback, and Justin Bieber. In Chicago there is a nasty teachers strike, and the mayor has become a target. On striker has been shown holding a sign saying that the mayor is a Nickelback fan. Apparently that is something unforgivable.
I have been asking people about their dislike for these and others, and from what I can gather, nobody has a good reason for being so hateful. I can dislike Jersey Shore because it glorifies idleness and entitlement and it is vulgar, I can avoid gangsta rap because it is derogatory to women and and it is vulgar, and I can tune out when Two Broke Girls comes on because it lowers my IQ level while watching it (haven't seen it enough to see if it is vulgar), but I am not on the internet constantly trying to trash talk them into world wide web oblivion (barring this blog post, but that is merely to illustrate a point). No, in fact, I figure that if I draw less attention to them, then I will not be giving them any free publicity (again, barring this post to make a point). As far as I can tell, Nickelback is hated because they always sound the same (and yet I can say the same thing about so many other bands), Taylor Swift us hated because she writes songs about her life (which is what most songwriters do), and Justin Bieber is hated because teen-aged and younger girls love him (which fits the NKOTB regime from my youth). So really, they are hated because they are popular, successful, and talented. They are hated because they make a lot of money doing what they love. Smells like jealousy to me.
So, for the last several months, I have been doing some informal research into this cultural phenomenon of posting horrible things about celebs and the like. I have found that there is much on the internet that is...well, to put it mildly, crap. Here is my hypothesis: because people are allowed to post things on the internet anonymously, they feel that they can say whatever they want, however they want, and to whomever they want. They may even be saying horrible things to someone they love and they do not even realize it. They know that to be like this face-to-face with someone is wrong, but hiding behind their screens they can de-evolve into something more carnal. I found two main categories that really get my proverbial goat.
First, there are the Haters, who will spend countless hours surfing the web looking for their sources of hatred. these are the ones who will go onto every YouTube video that even mentions Taylor Swift and dislike it, simply to fight some sort of good fight. These are the ones who will watch the "I'm a Mormon" videos that my church has out and make so many negative comments with the deluded idea that by posting their hatred that they are winning. These are the ones who get all riled up whenever a teachers union goes on strike believing that all teachers do is babysit. These are the ones that you cannot have a good discussion with. Actually, you can't really have a discussion at all without them degenerating into potty-mouthed tirades erupting. To put it simply, I find most Haters to be uninformed and happy to remain that way.
After the Haters you have the Trolls. These are a bit different than the Haters because Trolls purposefully make comments to get people upset. Haters are trying to prove a point. Trolls are trying to get you to react. These people will step into any debate and say inflammatory things, just to see how many dislikes or thumbs down they can get. I guess you can say that I am a Troll-Hater. It seems like the only thing that gives them any meaning in life is to cause others become incensed. Perhaps the Trolls have always been lurking under the bridges of life, but I must say that it makes being on the internet less fun. I enjoy sharing and reading intelligent thoughts, but I find the Trollish comments to be very tiresome.
Before I finish with the Top Ten, a little song that sums up my feelings.
Top Ten Ways to Deal with Haters and Trolls
10. Don't bite the bait. Walk away, turn off the monitor, whatever you must, but don't reply.
9. Thumb down/spam-block the hate. Even if you agree with their point, but they are saying it in an offensive and vulgar manner, vote them down. In some sites, such as YouTube and Yahoo, it actually blocks or hides things that receive too many negative votes. And once those are hidden...
8. Keep the Hate hidden! enough said on that.
7. Be polite, not reactive. If you really feel that you must respond to a Hater or Troll, just say what you need to without stooping to their level.
6. Vote up the good comments. The ones that have reasonable ideas, respectful discourses, just vote those up. This tends to put those comments higher up in the list.
5. Priorities. If you set you filters to show only the most popular comments, you can remove most if not all of the hateful comments.
4. Block the Trolls. Facebook, YouTube, and other networking sites allow you to block certain users. If there is someone who is constantly being hateful and mean-spirited, block them. You typically never read their statements again.
3. Don't Do It. Just do not read the comments if the Trolls and Haters always get to you.
2. Happy thoughts. Surround yourself with good friends, postivie images, anything to keep the negativity at bay.
1. If you ever meet a Troll, pick up a Hater and smack them off the bridge Billy-Goat-Gruff style.
