General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: There is a living breathing human being at the other end of your keyboard. [View all]calimary
(81,261 posts)nuance, communicates the message in a wholly unique dimension that just the mere words on the screen simply cannot.
We forget sometimes. It's awfully easy to just sit here, as I am at the moment, by myself in the room (husband is outside having a cigar at the moment and son is in his room, working on a project), where nobody can see me or hear me, nobody knows me or stands there watching what I've said, nobody even knows who I am, and I'm certainly only using a screen name.
It's different when you see and hear - when there's an actual being sitting with you or standing in front of you. The cover of anonymity in this case is what I think is majorly to blame. It lets each of us be the ultimate hit 'n' run artist. Hit, and disappear into the ether, and nobody even knows or feels the pain - except for where it hit, also unseen, deep inside.
Maybe this is how some of US on this side of things act out. Maybe we vent our own rage this way. Maybe it keeps us from screaming down the middle of the street downtown during lunch hour. Maybe it keeps the darker thoughts and temptations away. Maybe it's just letting off steam. But words CAN hurt. And do. Whoever made up the little ditty "sticks and stones can break my bones but words (or names) will never hurt me" NEVER met the GOP or any of the other influences in our lives now that can infuriate and drive some of us to outrage and extremes and the want or need to lash out, and hit back.
I don't know what the answer is, except for all of us to try to be a little more vigilant, and take maybe a little more care of each other - in such circles of other kinds of kinship as this one is, here on DU.