a little seriousness here – stop the hate!

I’m going to hop up on my soapbox for a few minutes and vent, hope you don’t mind.

I don’t know about you guys but I am heartily sick and tired of reading nothing but hate, negativity and all around rudeness from anyone with the ability to read and write and the erroneous thought that everyone NEEDS and WANTS to hear their opinion (as I write my own opinion, yes I get the irony).

I will admit that I have found myself becoming more and more like an ostrich with his head in the sand. I also admit that I would love to be surrounded in a world of unicorns and rainbows and try to avoid ugliness and confrontation as much as possible. Don’t mistake that for me being a touchy feely type of person, because I’m not, far from it. I will also tell you that I am a pessimist and a glass half empty type of person so when someone like me thinks there is waayy too much hate and negativity in the world then there is definitely something wrong.

My social media feeds are filled with nothing but hate and vitriol. One group is protesting violence, another is protesting capitalism, yet another is protesting oil companies and homelessness and the list goes on and on. Shoot, it doesn’t even have to be a hot topic for some jerkwad to spout crap. No one can say anything without some jerk(s) commenting with their hateful opinion. You know, you don’t have to believe in the topic and you may have your own opinion but how about debating in a civil manner?

How about being a nice human being no matter what.

I think the straw that broke the camel’s back was the hate I read in comments regarding a recipe on the Food Network feed from Sunny Anderson. My personal reaction to the picture and the recipe was that it wasn’t appetizing looking at all and just wasn’t my cup of tea. In those situations I usually just scroll on past, if it doesn’t interest me then move on. I should have just moved on like I usually do but I was curious about some of the comments and decided to take a peek. Really, I should have known better, I know that every time I read comments I get ticked off.

The reactions were extreme! There were a lot of “yucks” and “ewws” and a few vomit emojis. Then there were the personal attacks. They were hurtful and rude starting with her and appearance and weight and degraded from there. Why? For what purpose? It was just a recipe folks. So it didn’t appeal to you, move on without being a jackass.

Seriously folks why all the hate? If you can’t say something nice then simply don’t say anything at all. And don’t start giving me crap about free speech. Free speech doesn’t mean you have to be mean and hurt people’s feelings. I’m sooo glad that everyone is so damned perfect that they can afford to throw crap at everyone else and not expect it to be thrown back.

This isn’t the first I’ve seen and surely won’t be the last. It isn’t even the worst I’ve seen but come on people grow the hell up!  Everyone keeps talking about changing the world, well if you want a change in the world then it starts with you personally. No one else but you.

Kindness and courtesy is just as infectious as hate so why not ignore something you don’t like and move on? Just because you can do something, like commenting on a post, doesn’t mean you should. Didn’t your momma ever teach you the golden rule? Treat people the way you would like to be treated. So if you are going to be an asshat then you can’t be surprised and offended when others treat you the same.

This world will not improve if it doesn’t start with you. Don’t try and hide behind the questionable anonymity of social media. If you wouldn’t look that person straight in the eye and say the EXACT same thing you did in your comments then don’t say anything at all!

You want your children to feel safe in school and not be bullied? THEN STOP BEING A BULLY YOURSELF! That is what you are doing with your nasty comments. You are a BULLY and it’s time to knock it off and it’s time something is done about it.

Once again don’t give me that “free speech” rhetoric. Being a hateful troll has nothing to do with free speech.

 

Ok, got that off of my chest and it’s time to go back to my rainbows and unicorns world and live my life in peace and harmony. Here’s hoping and wishing that everyone else will decide to do the same because the world will start being a much better place.