Mean Spirits Abound

I don't know if people are meaner now then they used to be, or if it's the perceived anonymity of the web bringing the meanness that was always there to the forefront, but have you seen some of the comments around the internet lately?  Sheesh. And I'm not talking about here.  I moderate my comments, so the mean people couldn't get through if they tried, so they don't try.  Without an audience, they're pretty impotent. 

No, I'm talking about random comments posted to just about everywhere.  YouTube seems to be the worst, but you can see them any other place that allows people to comment.  To all of them, I say "Egads, people, if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."

For instance, yesterday I was looking for something interesting to do with some leftover tilapia.  There I was on Allrecipes.com for petesakes and someone had given the recipe one star and left a nastygram because... wait for it...  tilapia doesn't taste as fishy as other fish.  How dare someone give tips on what to do with a fish that doesn't taste fishy.  And how dare people eat it??

Umm, yeah.  Stuff like that.

During the Olympics, I heard a story about Carmelita Jeter (one of the fastest women on Earth).  I guess one day her grandmother was over on YouTube - because she wanted to watch all of her granddaughters races and the videos were all posted there.  What she found was a slew of mean comments about how Carmelita cheated and she could never run that fast without drugs and, oh yeah, she looks like a man.  The poor old lady called Carmelita up in tears.

:shrug:  Maybe that's what these mean-spirited comments are going for.  "It ain't no good unless some poor innocent old lady cries.  :at which point they roll on the floor laughing because they're dorks:

For the most part, I've stopped reading comments around the interwebs.  I read the news story, or watch the video, or check out the Dilbert comic, all without scrolling down - because would you believe, I've seen vile, mean comments in every instance?  I don't read the comments to George Takei's funny pics anymore.  Hell, I don't read most FB comments unless I'm fairly certain I won't be stumbling across nastiness. Then again, every once in a while, I fall into the reading-comments trap, and I'm annoyed all over again.

Maybe I'm just getting too old for this crap.  I just wish there were a way to make it stop.  Educate these fools.  Create a shift in the behavior so people remember to keep their mean spirits to themselves.  I dunno.

What do you think?

(And yes, as always, my comments are both moderated and protected by the word verification.  If you have anything mean to say, don't bother.  No one will see it but me, and I'm pretty thick-skinned.  Plus, I'm quick with the delete button.)