One Child Is Holding Something That’s Been Banned in America to Protect Them: Commenting on a Comment

Every now and then, I like to highlight some of the comments that I receive on this blog. Today, I’d like to look at a comment that I received this morning to last week’s post One Child Is Holding Something That’s Been Banned in America to Protect Them: Powerful Gun Control PSAs from Moms Demand Action. The comment was posted anonymously (gee, I wonder why?):

Typical libtard bullcrap. Giving a child a gun to hold and not even teaching them proper trigger discipline. You can all go choke on a dick, asswipes.

Now it’s always a smart move, I think, to begin your comment with not just an insult, but a double insult: “libtard bullcrap”. This way, those reading your comment well recognize immediately that you are a serious person interested in an intellectual discussion of important issues. (By the way, what precisely is the “bullcrap” in my post?)

Then, of course, it’s important to move on to the totally trivial and completely irrelevant without any sort of notion of what you’re actually looking at or reading. As in, do you really think that Moms Demand Action gave those children loaded guns to hold in the PSAs? For that matter, what is the likelihood that these children will be exposed to guns such that they need to learn “proper trigger discipline”? And, of course, might it just be possible that the children were asked to put their fingers on the triggers for effect? You know, to make people even more nervous? But apparently Mr. Anonymous can’t get past the notion of poor “trigger discipline” to even contemplate the issue of reasonable gun control legislation.

Finally, it’s important to finish your comment with additional insults and, when possible, the use of either threats or a desire for something bad to happen to the author of the post upon which you are commenting. If you can make the insult racist or homophobic, all the better. I haven’t quite determined why the insults suggesting death by homosexual act are so frequent, but there you have it.

Most important, though, when posting a comment, is to be sure never to discuss the actual content of the post or the issues raised therein. Why bother with discussion of substance when you can just hurl insults? I mean, what fun is that? If you actually take on the substance, the author just might engage you or try to get you to elucidate on your ideas. It’s so much better to represent your side of an issue by framing the position as one of insult, avoidance, and more insult. That way the world can see just how that particular viewpoint is represented.

In all seriousness, I look forward to engaging in discussions of the issues that I raise, whether via comments, email, or even in person. That is part of why I write this blog. Yes, I want to influence people, but I also want to hear opposing viewpoints and to commence dialogue to see where we might find common ground, maybe even to tease out the strengths and weaknesses of my position (and of those who disagree with me). And I want to learn. I’ve been known to (occasionally…) change my mind or alter my perspective on an issue. Present me with a valid, well-reasoned argument, and who knows what might happen. If I make a mistake, show me (with some evidence, preferably…). But this sort of comment, to quote a current Internet meme, shows us “why we can’t have nice things”.

And it suggests that the commenter has no legitimate argument to make.

One other odd thing worth noting: The comment appears to have been posted by someone in Zurich, Switzerland.