Cloaked

One of childhood's biggest fears for many is fear of the dark. But as adults, do we fear the light more? In the Harry Potter series, Harry uses the "cloak of invisibility" to eavesdrop on Hogwarts activities. And in the never ending "troll wars" many hide behind the "cloak of anonymity" to express opinions from dark recesses that they would not share in the light of day. 

I may not agree with the opinions of some, but I respect their willingness, in the tradition of "Network" to scream, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore." An unpopular idea may not be wrong. The world is not flat, nor the center of the universe, yet those ideas held sway in their day. Popular policy may also egregiously wrong. Slavery, genocide of Native Americans. and denying women the vote were formerly official government policy, sanctioned by the many. 

Anonymous threats and bullying has had life-altering and life-ending consequences in social media. The "Bored at ...." site has created controversy with homophobic, misogynistic, and racist comments at Ivy League schools. So much for a "proper" upbringing and culture accompanying money. 

What are the solutions? One common theme is the recommendation, "do not feed the trolls." Other sites require comments to be moderated. I favor more sunshine, requiring full names to accompany comments. If one wants to engage in ad hominem, over-the-top, and sometimes libelous attacks, leave the shadows. 

Certainly many of the comments posted intend to raise an emotional response. But we should remember the words of the poet Maya Angelou, "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." 

We can disagree, but we can do so with civility, with intelligence, and sometimes with humor.