Cruel Comments on Facebook

grandma petes · ‎03-09-2010

I sometimes just shake my head when I read some of the posts people put on Facebook. Our local news station posted a story about a woman that was hit and killed in our local Costco parking lot. Well, it started a firestorm of some of the most sarcastic and mean spirited comments I've ever read on a public forum. I won't share those comments because they shouldn't be given anymore publicity. I replied that this poor woman's family and friends are grieving and that this was not the time nor the place to have a war of words. Someone replied to my post and called me an SJW..meaning Social Justice Warrior. The definition in short means that when someone calls you this, it's an insult. On the other hand, I don't mind at all. If speaking out for those that can't speak for themselves makes me a SJW...then I consider it a compliment. It is truly beyond my comprehension how people can post such hateful things, especially during tragic events. I know it's Freedom of Speech, but just because you have the right, doesn't make it right.

tansy · ‎01-02-2011

I agree that SJW is a compliment. Wear the label proudly.

Sooner · ‎03-10-2010

Right or wrong in this day and age you just have to learn to ignore it. It won't change. Kids need to be taught to get beyond bullying because I don't see how you can stop it. Somehow people have to learn to take the sting out of it. I don't see any other alternative. You can't wish it away.

JaneMarple · ‎05-23-2011

Facebook along with just about every other public forum attracts trolls and mean spirited people. I still get shocked now and then from cruel remarks especially when a story concerns death and dying.

You Don't Own Me- Leslie Gore
(You don't Know) How Glad I Am- Nancy Wilson

croemer · ‎03-10-2010

Have you ever read some of the comments below tributes to lost children on Youtube. Jaw dropping is all I can say. No wonder many turn off the commenting ability.

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**Careful... I have caps lock and I am not afraid to use it.**

Noel7 · ‎03-09-2010

@Sooner wrote:
Right or wrong in this day and age you just have to learn to ignore it. It won't change. Kids need to be taught to get beyond bullying because I don't see how you can stop it. Somehow people have to learn to take the sting out of it. I don't see any other alternative. You can't wish it away.

We can't blame "kids." We've all seen it, daily, and it's coming from adults.

Carmie · ‎10-25-2010

It is so easy for people to just print what pops into their empty heads on social media. They post things that they would never say out loud and in person.

Have they forgotten that there are real live people how can read what they post?

i have been called out for defending others on this forum. I don't do Facebook or Twitter and refuse to.

Just the other day, I drank a Snapple Ice Tea. The inner lid always has a fact listed. My lid said that ALL Twitter comments were archived in the Library of Congress. I didn't know that and I am sure most other people don't know that either. That is scary.

If I get called names or looked down on for standing up to what is right, then so be it.

@grandma petes Wear your new title proudly.

jeanlake · ‎03-10-2010

Hiding behind a computer screen makes it easier for closet bullies, racists, angry and bitter people to express themselves in virtual hiding. I made a comment yesterday about someone criticising a vendor -- looking for others to join in and dogpile on someone else. I should have ignored it and moved on, but it gets old.

"I took a walk in the woods and came out taller than the trees." Henry David Thoreau

grandma petes · ‎03-09-2010

@Carmie Thanks so much Carmine. I will always stand up for what's right and try to help the less fortunate. You're right when you said most people would never have the nerve to say those awful things face to face. Sitting behind a computer seems to give them some false sense of power I guess. It's always much easier to be kind.😊

Carmie · ‎10-25-2010

@jeanlake wrote:
Hiding behind a computer screen makes it easier for closet bullies, racists, angry and bitter people to express themselves in virtual hiding. I made a comment yesterday about someone criticising a vendor -- looking for others to join in and dogpile on someone else. I should have ignored it and moved on, but it gets old.

No, you did the right thing by calling someone out. If more people did the right thing, it might make a difference.