My new Approach to People on the Internet

Chris has long been trying to tell me that there's no point in arguing with people on the internet.  There's no point wasting time and energy and thought...because (as he reminds me), DUDE--It's the INTERNET.

I'm generally pretty good about it.  I read something I don't like, I see something I don't like, I turn off the internet and step AWAY from the computer.  But lately, things have been getting under my skin...irritating me in way they normally do not.  And I find myself tempted, oh so tempted, to bend my intellect and considerable (and scathing) wit in their direction and take them down a few notches.

And then, I was reminded by a long loved friend.  Jane Austen wrote in Sense & Sensibility, "Elinor agreed to it all, for she did not think he deserved the compliment of a rational response."

And so, from a woman who could not possibly have conceived of computers, the internet, digital networks or the level of public stupidity which we seem to have created by all of those other things, I have been reminded yet again, to just let things go...a rational response is a considerable compliment for which one must prove oneself worthy.

Thank you, Jane.