HATE BLOGS – OR, WHAT MOST OF US LEFT BEHIND IN THE EIGHTH GRADE

The mods here have hesitated to talk about this – we’ve considered it for a while. We know people talk about us. We talk about people, too – here and occasionally in emails. I tend to disbelieve people who claim that they never talk about others. This isn’t about “how dare anyone say anything about us! How can they be so mean?!” That would be pretty hypocritical at this point, I think.

But there’s a blog that’s existed almost as long as GDNNOP whose sole purpose is to “snark” on us. No, I’m not going to give out the name or the URL – it’s not my job to give exhibitionistic mean girls access to more attention.

Do I care? Yes and no. Most of the time, they are easy enough to ignore. They have the right to their opinions, and the fact that they’ve chosen to express those opinions in such an ugly way and in public, so to speak, says far more about them than it does about anyone else, whether they realize it or not (I’m quite sure they don’t).

Yet occasionally info makes its way to me that is a tad aggravating. Speculation becomes opinion becomes fact (sound familiar?). I’ve been accused of posting over there under another name, and it’s apparently become canon, in spite of the fact that I’ve never posted there in my life and have no desire to.

What makes this blog different or worse than other Gosselin-related blogs? Well, I don’t know that I think it’s worse ; the focus is different. At GWOP and a couple of other blogs I can think of, the mods make it a point to assert that they don’t talk about GDNNOP over there; why do we talk about them over here? That question has been asked and answered a number of times, to the point that I think the various sockpuppets have (finally!) gotten tired of asking. But the fact is that they haven’t needed to talk about GDNNOP on their blogs because they’ve had their “other blog” all along in which they call out, insult and lie about their “enemies” with impunity. It’s such an obvious (and cowardly, especially because they all use different names over there) way of “keeping their hands clean”.

What makes them objectionable? Calling out people who post on other sites by name. Constant accusations of sockpuppeting (I believe that’s what the psychiatric community calls “projection”, because I’m pretty damn sure every regular there has a drawer full of socks, one or more for every one of the many sites they post on). Constant put downs and personal insults, again often directed at specific, named individuals. Anyone who doesn’t agree with them is stupid and/or crazy. Do I think some anti-Gosselinites are one or both? Yes. Do I think they all are? No. I think if there’s any one trait that characterizes the rabid anti-Gosselinite, it’s not IQ or income or education level or even the number of cats they have. I think it’s a tendency towards extreme self-righteousness and the desire, even need, to feel better than other people as well as the tendency to spend far more time dwelling on other people’s perceived faults than on self-improvement.)

What about you? Have you ever encountered “mean girls” online or bullies online, either those who directed their hate at you or at others? How did you feel about it? Did you care, or did you believe, as my mother always told me, that one should not pay much attention to the opinions of those for who one cannot have any respect?

"I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it." - Voltaire