Comments That Bother Me, Part 1.
So I head to a personal essay that’s been widely linked around the ‘net – the heartfelt discussion of a problem someone has with a culture. It has hundreds of comments from people going, “Oh God yes, I know exactly how that feels” and “Thanks for putting this into words” and linkbacks saying “She says it for me.”
Then you drill down and you find this:
“I don’t get this. I’ve never met anyone who complained about this before. Who would feel this way?”
Maybe the hundreds of other people who already left comments, you dope.
Look, I get being surprised when someone violently hates something that doesn’t bother you. That happens to me all the time. And many times, I think what they’re complaining about is overblown, their griping sans merit.
But if I see an essay that has five hundred likes on Facebook, I don’t deny the feeling exists. The fact that I have never encountered it before does not mean that, quantum-style, it failed to be before I clapped my googly little eyes on it. It means I never ran into anyone with this opinion, which is an entirely different thing.
And when someone leaves a comment like this, I wonder: no wonder you didn’t meet anyone like this before. You just met one right now, along with a battalion of cheering admirers, and you just fucking erased them. Can you halt for a moment to note your own blithering, Magoo-like blindness?
The evidence is literally before your eyes. You may not agree with these people, but for fuck’s sake, at least acknowledge them.
I’ve never seen this problem before.
(Joke, but also true. I would, therefore, be interested to see an example if it wouldn’t be inappropriate.)
Och. I neglected to include the final sentence saying, “Also, I appreciate your making me aware of it.” Without that, it sounds like I had seriously missed your point. (If the moderator would be so kind as to just add that sentence to the parenthetical….)
It could be argued fairly convincingly that Laura’s comment on this post qualifies.