Tuesday, 4/11

And once again, the rest of the story.

As you may recall, I had stuck a few pictures up yesterday, taken during our (finally) Spring-like weekend. I had also posted the pictures on Facebook, where hundreds of people have given them a “like” or a “love”. But I did not include one more picture I had posted on the social media site, a picture that seems to have become a tempest in a teapot.

Specifically, this picture--

I just thought it was a cool picture. I liked the composition of it, and thought it kind of a slice of modern-day Marquette life. It did not even occur to me that within a couple of hours the comments section below it would be filled with so much venom, vitriol, and sheer hate that I had to disable the comments and delete the ones that had already been left.

Sigh.

It started with people who believe climate change is a hoax leaving all kinds of wacko comments and conspiracy theories, and then gathered steam as people on the other side started to fight back. Pretty soon, it had devolved into a meme-spewing, four letter word “debate” that would make even the most hard-core of individuals blush with embarrassment.

All that just because of a picture.

Some of it may be my fault. I just thought it was a cool picture. I had no idea it would trigger a few people and lead to what it did. But the behavior that people show on the internet these days, where their identities are protected by either a false name or the fact that they're not face to face with whomever they're engaging, is deplorable. Yes, I get that you don't agree with someone on an issue. That's fine. But the way some people acted with the others with whom they were engaging was just horrid. There isn't enough soap in the world with which to wash their mouths out. There aren't enough corners on the planet for them to take a time out.

I was stunned. And, if I had to admit it, a little sickened by the whole thing, as well. I mean, I know just how bad people can be in the Internet. I have, after all, accidentally stumbled upon the comments section of a news story on TV-6's website, and I thought that people couldn't be any worse than on there.

Turns out I was wrong.

All I did was take a picture that I thought looked interesting. I had no idea that it would lead to, well, a whole bunch of online trolling, misogyny, and behavior better left to six year olds. That's not the purpose of art.

Lesson learned, I guess.

(jim@wmqt.com)