I leave comments from time to time, mostly on political sites like ThinkProgress,The Huffington Post, Crooks and Liars, Firedoglake **, and TalkingPointsMemo. I'm not quite sure of what this says about me, but so many of the comments I read are either nonsensical, poorly thought out, mis-spelled, childish, or off-topic. Many are varied combinations of that list.
Now I'm certainly not immune to some of this either, but in my defense I've gotten better since I started using WordWeb, some other writing aids like an additional thesaurus (Mobysaurus Thesaurus), the web site Answers.com, and many others. And the best aid of all, taking my time and re-reading my thoughts before clicking "Post".
I know some of this is unfortunately the way many younger people are communicating these days. No capital letters, no punctuation, etc.. And then there's the fact that just because you have a computer, it doesn't necessarily mean that you're educated (or course there are some people that aren't 'educated' but are plenty smart).
I hope this doesn't come across as conceited or anything like that. My formal education ended after high school (and later in life one year of photography school). And to call that an 'education' is being generous. During high school (in the seventies) I was a rocker and a serious partier. I spent most of my time playing the drums with a local band, smoking pot, and drinking beer. But somewhere in there, mostly before and after that part of my life I read a lot. It also helped that my parents were highly intelligent graduates of Colby College and my mother quickly corrected me whenever I mis-spoke.
I'm far from perfect, and I prove it often, but I try to take the time and steps necessary to minimize that fact when I leave comments.
Nowadays I deal with chronic depression, ADD, and severe anxiety, all of which conspire to make writing and thinking clearly a difficult process. I guess that in some ways that forces me to be more careful about what I write and how I write it. And sometimes when I don't put the effort into it I let things go that I'd otherwise spend more time on. The end result being writing that I'm less than proud of, and usually exhibits itself towards the end of whatever I'm writing as my attention and energy fade. My writing is far from perfect, but at least I make the effort to make it understandable.
I assume that this happens to others also. The reasons for thoughtless (or 'less than thoughtful') comments are many, but the reasons for poorly spelled comments aren't. There are typos, which are easily remedied by simply re-reading before posting. Then there are many people who can't spell, which is almost as easily remedied by using one of the hundreds of spell-checking utilities available that underline the mis-spelled words for you.
Then there are the comments that seem to have been written by aliens, some of which actually were written by people from other countries who don't have a good command of english, and others that seem to have come from some beings that are not of this world.
The former is understandable, but there are many that fall into the latter category, undecipherable by the best translators. They're the ones that leave you thinking, HUH?
It's a tossup as to which is more maddening, the inane comments that people pull out of their butts, or the fact that some people are so lazy that they won't bother to use a simple spelling utility that could at least allow them to fake it and not look so stoopid.
These days with all the blogs, forums, and comments sections, most of which are solely print-based, you have to take extra care to make sure your thoughts are conveyed clearly. There are no facial clues or voice inflections for others to notice and thereby access your true feelings or the actual meaning of your comment as opposed to what they think you meant.
I haven't touched on THE PEOPLE WHO FEEL THEY HAVE TO WRITE EVERYTHING IN ALL CAPS, JUST SO...__________________(fill in the blank).
Most veterans of internet forums and such know that this is considered 'yelling' and is bad form, but with more and more new people coming online with computers everyday and joining the world wide conversation there are just so many that haven't learned the proper etiquette, let alone bother to use proper english or spelling. Some know better and do it anyway.
I haven't mentioned 'trolls' either. Those who 'troll' the comments sections of web sites looking to engage in arguments with people that don't share their point of view, and some who purposely go there to derail the legitimate discussion. The reasons are many. These days the small but vocal minority of 'loyal Bushies' seem to be everywhere standing up for their hero, the facts be damned. Among those there are also the religious zealots, well-meaning and otherwise.
I'm finding myself less and less prone to even read the comments sections these days. I am finding some sites that seem to have a more thoughtful and less fanatical commentary but I don't know how to avoid the lazy posts with the typos, et al.
Maybe at a site like PoynterOnline.
I've 'replied' to people's comments from time to time, politely mentioning how easy and helpful spelling assist utilities are, but they're usually met with the 'spelling nazi' reply or some other defensive retort so I don't bother anymore.
I wish it didn't bother me as much. I'd blame my mother, but it's not her fault. I'm glad for her guidance. I feel sorry for those whose parents aren't good role models. I know all to many. Unfortunately ignorance usually breeds ignorance as I'm sure many teachers would agree. The exceptions are wonderful to see and are to be encouraged. But this trend towards 'no rules writing' is bad. I've had people tell me that "it's just the way kids are communicating these days", as if there was nothing that could be done to change it.
It's bad for the future of increased online interaction and bad for accurate communication where all you have to go by are written words.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to re-read my post. I could really use an editor to help me with that, but for now I'll have to muddle through as best I can.
*Did I mention the ones who overuse the bold highlighting feature?
** Edited on 2/21/2011 4:50 PM: Added strikethrough because of the recent distasteful and unprofessional behavior of Jane Hamsher on Twitter.
- This is a copy of a comment I just posted over at Think Progress(.org) :
I just made the mistake of following the link over to Redstate….Amazingly I made it most of the way down the first page.Most of the comments read like they were written by dangerous psychopaths. Some of the comments border on threatening violence and hate speech, and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if some of them would actually act out their hatred if given the opportunity.
This is not covered under ‘freedom of speech’ and they should realize that.On the right there was a link to “Conservatives are more tolerant that lefties”, and to the left of that was nothing but comments filled with intolerance and hate.The nastiness and venom is so thick there, but it’s worth remembering that their actual numbers are thankfully small and closed, as are their minds. That does not mean that it’s to be tolerated or accepted. Decent people have the obligation to say “We don’t accept this, this is wrong!” as loudly and forcefully as we can.We will prevail in the long run, but not by tolerating this kind of malevolence.
This is one case in which I will not be tolerant!Comment by TRDaggett — October 13, 2007 @ 11:51 am
Watching Chris Matthews tonight, I couldn't help but be embarrassed for him. He melted like a pad of warm butter all over Alan Greenspan. As I see it, this is one of Chris' major flaws. He seems so personally awed by so many of the major players in and around Washington he exhibits no professional distance in his interviews. It's more like he's interviewing his best friend each time, and god forbid he ask them a hard question that would endanger their personal relationship. He's "embedded" himself in the Washington scene far too long and has lost almost all of his impartiality.
Even when talking about someone like president Bush, who's record of failure should speak for itself, he's stated how much 'respect he has for the man'. Sometimes when Chris says things like that it almost makes my head spin around and I think, did he really just say that?
What's equally weird are the times when he really seems to be back within the bounds of reality. Sure, if you're honest with yourself your feelings can change about certain things as you grow and learn, but as I've watched Chris over the years it appears depending on the day, his mood, or something unknown [to me] that he'll be on opposite sides of the issue.
It's like there's two separate Chris Matthews, one voice coming from his head and the other coming from his heart.Now regarding Greenspan's comments tonight about how social security should ultimately be 'fixed', he says that cutting entitlements will have to be done.
Now I'm currently "living" on a single social security disability payment each month, similar to what retirees with no other source of income do (I have no 'assets' whatsoever).
I'm just trying to think about what they're supposed to do if their benefits are reduced.
Barely above the poverty line as it is, there is no way that they should have to even contemplate trying to get by on less than they already have, especially when the rich are getting richer (and growing in numbers). Greenspan's cold assessment doesn't include those factors it seems.
They seemed to dance around the fact that one of the major factors in the equation is the massive profits the HMOs and pharmaceutical companies suck out of the system, made worse by raising their rates far above the rate of inflation. The subject about reigning in that major problem is rarely mentioned, and when it is, the agents of the health care lobby (and their partners on strategic government committees) come to their rescue.The way our government runs these days is shameful. Sure lobbyists aren't new or inherently bad, but the balance is so tilted to one side now that the public's 'representatives' don't work for them, but in many cases look to be working directly against them, giving much too much weight to the upper class and major business interests. And although there are some wonderful, caring people included in this upper class, all too many seem to live by the motto "I've got mine, if you can't get here by yourself, too bad" (or "Sucks to be you!")
When I try to distill this in my head and relate it to the Democrats and Republicans, the Democrats lean towards helping their fellow Americans who are in need, and the Republicans lean towards helping only themselves, and only those who share their philosophy (and wealth). And this attitude has been 'distilled' over the past seven years by the man and administration who promised to "unite" the country.
And briefly, I want to get into my feelings about why someone who I admire greatly, namely Keith Olbermann, is so reticent to say anything relating to some other members of the media's comments, especially (but not solely) in the case of Chris Matthews, "My good friend".
I hope he does speak up at least privately behind the scenes. I know he has to work with him, and it's unreasonable for me to expect absolute honesty from Keith in this particular situation, but from what I've seen of Keith's character, and the 'special comments' that are so right-on, he must cringe [inside] at some of the inane statements and positions Matthews has come out with. And to speak out against comments others in the media have made, as he does regularly (and rightly so), then neglect those made by his "good friend" is less than I expect (even if it is unreasonable) from the conscientious professional I admire.
The other night after the Republican debate Chris was his usual manic (rude?) self interrupting Keith and not taking time to hear the points Keith was making in favor of his point, whatever that was.. I got the feeling that even his good friend was testing his patience at that point.
So often Chris' interviews are more like an interrogation than an interview.
Chris calls it "Hardball", but all too often it's just him rudely pushing his own twisted philosophy down the throats of his 'guests'.
What makes me shake my head is every once in a while he acts perfectly normal, reasonable and courteous. Seriously, it makes me think he needs medication. I wonder what psychiatrists think when they watch his show?
I'm currently in the process of reading the news and posting links and comments to news items that I need to comment on. The last one I just did was about Tony Snow getting defensive with Suzanne Malveaux. I'm not done, so there should be more to come, I just wanted to leave a post pointing to [my] latest Furl additions.Wish me luck, my brain seems slower than usual, and searching for the correct words is painfully slow this AM.
