I Bet You Wouldn’t Say That to My Face
A new standard before you comment on articles
Imagine all societies had a law that said you could punch one person in the face, once per year. You could choose any person over the age of, say, 15 years old and give them a good old wallop because they pissed you off. For many, your first thought is all the people you’d have the opportunity to seek retribution on and who you should save that one punch up for each year.
Which says a lot about you if that’s the case.
But there’s a flip side to this that’s more important to consider: all the times you said something— even if it felt justified — that could cause someone to want to knock your teeth out once per year.
For many of you, that should give you pause. Because if there’s one thing I notice writing here and on the Internet in general, it’s that there’s no shortage of people who will jump in to comment in the rudest and most insulting of ways when they disagree with you on anything.
And to be fair, there’s a spectrum here. Some people are just having a bad day or are sensitive to the topic, and just a little harsh in their wording. They’ll even apologise if called on it. Hey, none of us is perfect, and that’s part of life. But then there are the comments that leave no ambiguity, attacking you…
