I’m a pretty big fan of technology and social networking and so forth, but one thing that is seriously starting to grate my nerves the ‘comments’ section on articles and facebook posts. Most people writing comments are just assholes; there’s just really no other way to say it.
I was perusing the Cit Pat online the other day and there was an article about our company’s 125th anniversary coming up. There was nothing negative in the article at all – its purpose was simply to note and celebrate that we’ve had this company HQ’d in Jackson (a good thing for the local economy) and serving the entire state for that long and how it’s a real milestone. Well sure enough, the snark starts dripping. People commenting on how (inexplicably, mind you, since there is no connection whatsoever) the anniversary is somehow another way to siphon money from bilked customers and pad the “big wigs” pockets even further. “Big wig” means person who is employed there, of course.
I love the comments on how people shouldn’t be paid “so much,” because it is just stealing from captive customers, how employees should be downsized, as well as many other sparkly little nuggets of golden insight. This kind of rhetoric is particularly egregious when they’re referring to a public employee (teacher, police, gov. office worker, whatever).
Basically what it boils down to is you are demonized if you have a job because you “don’t deserve” to be paid as much as you are as judged by some anonymous person who knows nothing about what you or your organization do, or what it took to get there. You’re lazy, inefficient, and wasteful. Conversely, these same individuals demonize those who do not have jobs and are on welfare or some other assistance program because they are “lazy bums who just don’t want to work!” There’s a plethora of unfilled jobs, right, but some people just don’t want to get off their asses!
The cognitive dissonance here is just astounding. It’s a sanctimonious dash to run around screaming about why EVERYONE else – not you yourself – but everyone else is doing life wrong and should be punished in some way, and you naturally are the one who should determine the method because you know everything. You can’t tout your litany of complaints about people who don’t have jobs (or “good enough” jobs), and then immediately turn around made judgmental proclamations about those who do!
“Personal responsibility! No handouts!” they shout at everyone else, but oops… “it’s not my fault I’m 3 months behind on my energy bill and got shut off! They sent me a huge bill for my arrears! It’s not fair!” Complete and utter hypocrisy and lack of self-awareness…
