My usual reaction to people who reply to my YouTube comments
in brainless, acerbic, insulting ways has been to feel annoyance, irritation
and indignation. When such a situation crops up I’ve usually been moved to
conjure an acerbic and insulting response of my own on the reasonable
assumption that, in the matter of words and general awareness, my firepower is probably
a little more withering than theirs.
I’ve decided that this must stop, for why should I allow a
soft snowball to assume the weight of a howitzer shell and cause any form of
injury whatsoever to my mental state? And so, when I receive such a missive now I ask
myself two questions:
1. Should I be in any way concerned that the writer is demonstrating
his or her own inadequacy in making such a statement?
2. Would my riposte serve
any useful purpose to me, the writer or anybody else?
If the answer to both is ‘no’
I let their comment wither like a fallen leaf and walk over it. If, on the
other hand, the troll is attacking someone else unfairly, I might still be tempted to
offer a spirited defence.
That seems like a good idea to me, although it does make me wonder where I’ve been all my life. (And if anyone feels I’m falling into the trap of becoming sanctimonious, do feel free to say.)
No comments:
Post a Comment