The subject line can be exciting or inflammatory, depending on who you are or your current mood. Because this is being delivered via the internet, you have no idea my intention in posing this question. But that won’t stop many people from incorrectly assuming my intent.   It’s easy to misinterpret someone else’s thoughts or intentions over the internet.

This is not news, but I’m not a reporter.

I’m on the radio weekly, but I’m not a broadcaster.

I host a weekly online show, but I’m not an anchor.

I’m just a contributor here at Crier.

I hope to provide informative, entertaining, or thought-provoking content. I love engaging with others regardless of the topic and enjoy debating to the point of arguing.

People feel a sense of security from commenting behind a screen and are increasingly pushing things to new extremes.

The abuse from people responding to anything on Social Media can be so disproportionately negative that it boggles my mind.

Last week I wrote the following:

This Is Just a Rant About NASCAR

It was about my frustration with what NASCAR has become and featured a picture of a flaming crash from Daytona. I intended to express my hope that situations like the crash pictured could be eliminated.

My good buddy and Captain of Crier Media, Dean Blundell, helped me by sharing my blog, which is what a good Captain does.

A random troll responded, “Too bad your family wasn’t in that one” (fiery crash). Hardly a proportionate response and certainly not the type of engagement that I’m hoping for here but at the same time, his comment didn’t have the intended result of pissing someone off.

What’s your problem? Simple answer: you’re more satisfied with negative reinforcement than being educated.

There is no shortage of conflict online these days, but a few of my favorites are cited below:

A dude named Hank Stevenson with Wolfgang Van Halen (son of Eddie Van Halen and Valerie Bertinelli) was quite entertaining. For those who don’t know WVH, he is a fantastic musician who plays all instruments when recording his albums, singing, and double-tracking his harmonies.

The video for Don’t Back Down shows his versatility. Being multi-instrumental and a vocalist isn’t enough for some.

Stevenson wrote: If a person wants to make a name for themselves, they won’t take advantage of their famous father’s last name & band name. His father & uncle didn’t have that. Everyone in the band didn’t have that. The majority of current & former bands & singers didn’t have that. 

Wolfie’s response was perfect: Van Halen is my fucking name, you grape, and even took the time to explain: You guys understand Van Halen is a name. That good ol’ American rock and roll you love so much was written by a Dutch immigrant named Edward Lodewik Van Halen, not some dude changing his name to sound cool and “rock n roll” and shit? Like way before, it was a band. Right?

What’s your problem? Truly having no experience or knowledge of a subject in which you’re acting like an expert.

People of my vintage know Dee Snider and Twisted Sister quite well. ” We’re not going to take it” is undoubtedly their most famous tune, which politicians have misused more times than correctly. In the wake of the massive number of school/mass shootings, Dee has licensed the song to be used in specific campaigns to reduce these tragedies.

A user wrote to Dee: Kind of funny the whole point of the song is to fight back and what “they” tell us, but he supports big government telling us what guns we can own…..are they changing the title of the song to “we are going to take it”? 

I think that their problem is pretty obvious. Seriously, how big of a moron do you have to be to tell the song’s author what it’s supposed to be about… I’m pretty sure that he knows what he was writing about.

This led me to one of my favorite ignorant interactions when Twitter users became upset with Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello, who took a very anti-maga political stance:

User: Another successful musician instantly becomes a political expert

TM: One does not have to be an honors grad in political science from Harvard University to recognize the unethical and inhumane nature of this administration, but, well, I happen to be an honors grad in political science from Harvard University, so I can confirm that for you. 

What’s your problem? Ignorance. Maybe use the device at your fingertips to do a bit of research before speaking publicly.

It then becomes a surprise to the uneducated that the machine they are Raging Against isn’t the dishwasher.

TM: The gap between the intent of music and dimwits’ understanding of it never ceases to amaze me.

I know a lot of truly brilliant people. Some have exceptional mechanical aptitude and can figure most anything out; others have incredible emotional awareness that allows them to be empathetic and organize people in the most effective way, and others have financial wherewithal that will enable them to make money seemingly effortlessly.

One of the unique qualities of all of these people is that none of them consider themselves wise; they understand what they know and can perceive how much they still have to learn.

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing-Socrates

Conversely, most idiots don’t know that they’re idiots; they think that they’re geniuses and act like they know everything. They have a hard time understanding why things don’t make sense, but instead of trying to learn and improve, they sit back and lob insults or accusations.

A minor step to more acrimony online would be to have people start by asking questions.

Agree? Disagree? Have something to say: [email protected] or @talkintorque

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