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Crude and Rude Are Sooooo Unnecessary

     They call them trolls.  If you've ever read the feedback or input from online readers regarding newsworthy stories, you'll find that somewhere along the way some idiot will say something so tasteless and vile that you wish you were close enough to smack them one good time across the head.  I don't often call people idiots.  I think it's a cruel word, but in this case, there's no other way to describe them.  Well, there is, but I'm too much of a lady to use that kind of language.  However, you can feel free to use your imagination.  They're called trolls for all the reasons the word exists.  The main one is because they troll the comments sections of news stories and make awful remarks in an effort, I believe, to get a rise out of others commenting on the story.  The more controversial the topic, the more you'll find them.  They are crude and hurtful.  They will blame the victim even if that victim is a dead child.  It's sickening. 
     Contributors who want to have a meaningful exchange have come to recognize them and try to encourage others not to respond to them.  Nonetheless, it's annoying when they burrow themselves into a conversation and then pop out with some kind of hateful remark.  It's hard not to respond because the comments they make are so venomous that you feel you can't let them get away with it. Only problem is, you can't do much about it.  They hide like cowards behind anonymity and fake avatars.  Sites tend to have someone monitoring the comments, and they will delete the horrible stuff.  But they still allow quite a bit to remain.  I can't help but wonder if these trolls would be as insulting if they had to make their comments out in the open.  Who are they?  Could these people be working in the cubicle next to you?  Could they be your neighbors?  Could they be your child's teacher?  Are they that desperate for attention that they would use shock to get it?
     Words have as much power written as they do verbalized.  Regardless of the mode in which you choose to deliver them, cruelty and rudeness are enraging and painful.  They are also unnecessary.  You can disagree with someone without ridiculing them, insulting them, or resorting to name-calling.  Trolls are excessive in what they say.  You may not be as bad as they are, but any time you choose to be hurtful in your speech you're not much better.  Most often when I've dealt with a person who's rude, they were that way totally unprovoked.  I had no idea why they were being a butthead, but they were.  Like me, you've probably found it especially prevalent in retail places or restaurants where you were a customer.  Did you call the manager or vow to never return?  Perhaps it's come from people in your workplace for reasons you find puzzling.  I find unprovoked rudeness unnecessary because when a person masters communications, they recognize that the snarky statements could easily be converted to much more productive and reasonable conversation.  I can understand getting angry for a particular reason.  But most rudeness has rarely been about reason.  Some people have made it a way of life.  Some have shown their immaturity by not being able to speak without snide comments, sarcasm or harsh judgments.  So let this be a wake up call.  Choose to find a better way today.  Cruelty and rudeness have never resolved conflict.  However, patience, understanding, empathy and kind words have.

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