Don’t do it. Don’t scroll to the bottom of the page. I tell myself this every time I read a news story that is posted on an online news website.
From CNN to Fox News, the comment section found at the bottom of every news story posted online all seem to have one thing in common these days — cruel, inconsiderate and downright heartless comments.
Take the death of Hollywood actress Brittany Murphy for instance. Just a few hours after her death, message boards were lit up with comments like, “I’m glad she’s dead” and “I hated her movies. Glad she can no longer make more.”
I’m sure we have all read the inevitable comments that come from the right-wing crazies every time a natural disaster occurs. Whether it is an earthquake or a flood or a million birds mysteriously falling from the sky — the comments are always the same, “God is punishing America for homosexuals and abortionists” and “Repent, or you too will perish.”
Imagine a world, as John Lennon would say, where we all lived and thought the way some of us do online. Beggars on the street corner would be slurred, “Why don’t you just die all ready.”
A grieving family who just lost their son to a five-year battle with stomach cancer would be heckled, “I’m glad he’s dead. He was never going to grow up to be a good person anyway” or “He died because Vermont allows homosexuals to marry.” What a world!
I can’t think of anyone who would say, “Sign me up to live in a world like that.”
Yet, in a way, we do live in a society that is beginning to reflect the one I previously mentioned.
With every hateful online post, with every heartless remark, we are encouraging others to behave the same exact way.
Now, don’t get me wrong, everybody is entitled to free speech and the right to express their opinion no matter how disagreeable and inappropriate it may be to some.
But just because you have the right does not mean you should use that right, especially if it will only hurt others.
Personal responsibility, respect and honor are ideals that shaped the founding of this country just as much as the ideas that went into the Bill of Rights, which outline our freedoms.
My grandmother used to have a little saying, “If you can’t say anything nice, then don’t say anything at all.”
I think I speak for the majority when I say that it would be nice to read a comment section on a news site and not see hateful and disrespectful remarks.
So, America — grab a bar of soap, and wash out your mouth.
By DAVID
WOODSON
Newscast Editor
dwoodson@imail.iu.edu
