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By Andrea Rouda
PEOPLE can be rotten. A week ago, Vladimir Putin had his armies deliberately bomb a building where children were taking shelter in Ukraine. The building had the word “Children” scrawled all over the outside of it. Still, the Russians dropped their bombs. Vladimir Putin is a person, like you and me, and he did that.
Then there are strangers who say terrible things to you online, even though they know nothing about you and your personal struggles. One of those is a woman named Sharon from Amarillo, Texas. I don’t know her but today she commented, “trash blog” on a negative movie review I had posted.
I’m guessing Sharon did not agree with my review. She must have liked that movie. That’s the only thing I can think of because we don’t know each other. For all Sharon knows I could have any number of horrible things going on—I may have recently lost a child to a drug overdose. Maybe my husband was recently killed in a car accident, or I lost my beloved Corgi to liver disease and had to put him down the day before I wrote that movie review. Sharon doesn’t know! Yet she chose to write something so nasty and for no reason. Why? What’s the payoff from insulting strangers? Does it feel good?
No wonder wars keep happening. People are inherently jealous, mean and power-hungry. Does Sharon feel better after writing that my movie review is “trash?” How could that possibly help her in any way?
Hear, hear! Social media, for the terminally aggressive, is the playground of the weak and wacky bullies. It deserves to be labeled and ridiculed before it becomes so deeply ingrained- and normalized – in our culture. Thank you for your bravery in calling it out. Micro aggressions needn’t become full blown wars if ordinary citizens rise up and say, ‘knock it off, Sharon!’
Xoxoxo
C