I feel a little silly that I never realized this lesson I've just learned - a real 'fact of life' but I've got it now.
I was reading the CBS news (it is set as my landing page) and I read with sadness about the 24 year old Georgia hiker who was out walking with her black lab last month and was murdered. This is heartbreaking on a lot of levels and I'm sad for her and her loved ones.
I read about it over a few days and eventually scrolled down to read the comments of other people who've read the story. I don't usually do that because in the past I've found people to be really cruel, judgemental and merciless. (Just what people need in times of disaster) I've questioned these responses from people and have vowed to just stay away from the comments section.
But this time I didn't. I scrolled down.... and there they were. The helpful and compassionate comments sprinkled among the horrible ones and the ones that blame everything on 'W' and think that all people should have guns. (and I'm not pro-guns but if I were to go out alone in the countryside in America, I'd probably want one with me - my daddy back in SC has 4...oh daddy) Anyway, yeah the comments were bad - and critical and a couple were unconscionable. I'd never commented before because I just didn't want to get into a debate with a vegetable BUT I couldn't help myself when I read one that was so bad. That is when I learned my lesson. Here is the exchange below:
Me:
Why are these kinds of creepy and vulgar comments in your forum? It''s okay to argue with each other but this is just horrible and look at the sign in name? ''TarBabyNigr'' I know that everything can''t be sensored but when this kind of garbage is in the comments section, it is hard to take any comment seriously. I have wanted to comment before but it seems these forums are so crowded with uncompassionate, angry people. (sprinkled among the very reasonable ones) Can CBS please put in a moderator and keep these pathetic people out? Please? My sincerest condolences to the family of this precious young woman.
Posted by rbccwong at 03:16 AM : Jan 08, 2008
The guy who taught me a lesson: (I assume it's a guy - sounds like a guy)
"Why are these kinds of creepy and vulgar comments in your forum? ..."rbccwong
Fellow citizen, I understand our disgust, and often even more painful, physical anxiety over comments that do not deserve to be aired. But if we did not hear them, how could we know they exist, and protect ourselves from those who would advocate them? That is the secret power of free speech, which our founding fathers realized so many hundreds of years ago. Those who are always free to speak, are always free to reveal their true innermost self. Which, in the end, benefits all. ST
"Simple answers do not exist in a world of great complexity. We must sacrifice our instinctive desire for the quick and easy to instead embrace the enduring and efficacious, or we, as a species, will not survive. "SearingTruthA Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com
So..... I learned a lesson that I'm surprised I never knew before and now I understand why sensorship isn't a good idea (within reason).
Lesson Learned.
