Trolls

I'm fairly active in politics. It's a topic that not only interests me, but in this unsettled time I find it important to keep abreast of what is happening in local, state, and national government. So many things that affect my daily life are decided by our elected leaders that it is vital to me to keep informed. Besides my daily news outlets, I also subscribe to many of the Facebook pages and Twitter feeds of those that are shaping the world around me.

One thing I'll never be able to understand are the trolls who frequent those pages and populate the comment sections. I'm sure you've all seen them before. They are the people, no matter the topic, that descend upon the internet to write negative, personal attacks against the politician. I'm all for open discourse and discussion of important topics. A wide range of opinions, whether I agree with them or not, is key to more fully understanding the subject and can sway my thinking in a different direction.

But those who use the forum to spew their hate drive me up a wall. Seriously, what does "you suck" or "you need to go" or "who are you trying to fool" add to the conversation? Why do you waste your time? How can you be so consumed with hate that you spend the mental energy to surf any number of social media platforms just to unleash your venom upon the world? It only detracts from the conversation at hand and devolves into name calling, aggravation, and further drives the "other side" into more entrenched positions.

I'll admit I have engaged trolls in the past. I've presented facts, not  just opinions, hoping to spur them into thinking past their biases. It usually ends with such thoughtful responses as "libtard" or something more vile. That's when I tune out and fall back on my motto of don't feed the trolls. I then chastise myself for failing to follow my own advice and feel disappointed that allowed myself to get sucked into the negativity.

We can never come together if we spend our time yelling at each other. We can not overcome and fix the monumental problems in our society if all we can do is take cheap shots at one another behind the cloak of the keyboard. In 1992 Rodney King said ""People, I just want to say, can't we all get along? Can't we all get along?" 28 years later, this is still good advice.