It must be the heat

I don't know what it is but lately the comments on a lot of blogs that I frequent have seriously gone down hill. People seem to have lost all common sense and decency. I can only assume that the heat of the summer has cooked off whatever debating skills people may have possessed earlier in the year. Or that the heat has brought out the really stupid people looking for air conditioned comfort in front of a computer. Unless they're commenting from the southern hemisphere then maybe their brains have been frozen stiff by the winter cold.

I constantly see people say obviously stupid and inflammatory things hoping to hook some poor fool into responding to their idiocy. And people fall for it every time. Hello! Did you leave your brains sitting next to the computer when you logged on to the internet? Ignore these fools and spare the rest of us the pain of watching you slam your head against a brick wall. And for those of you out there constantly baiting people, get a life!

Then there are the people with an all consuming obsession with one topic. No matter what the post they are commenting on is actually about they must turn the discussion to their pet topic. Look, you are not going to convert anyone to your point of view by constantly beating people over the head about your pet peeve, especially when they're trying to talk about something else. Yes yes we know you think it's very important but the world will not end if we talk about something else for a little while.

Then there are those who profess to be interested in intelligent respectful discourse who then proceed to insult everyone and everything in sight. Do you think people are too stupid to notice the hypocrisy? Apparently some are. But I'm not one of them. Take your false politeness somewhere else please. I'd much rather deal with someone who is rude and insulting up front than have to put up with someone who pretends to be otherwise.

And then, as if the other annoying personalities aren't enough, there is the commenter who hangs around a blog for the sole purpose of disagreeing with anything anyone says. After a while it gets real tired. If you've got that much to say take up it with the blogger over email or start your own blog. That way the rest of us don't have to put up with your constant complaining about our favorite bloggers. When we feel like having the sins of said blogger enumerated for us we'll come visit you okay?

And the cliches! Oh the cliches! Not the good and useful ones that illustrate one's point well. But the stupid over used ones that make you either groan in pain or want to inflict pain on the user.

Reading the comments on many blogs has become an act of masochistic voyuerism for me. I know I'm not going to find much intelligent discussion but I've just got to look to see how bad it is. I hope people come back to their senses soon. All of this rampant stupidity is going to push me over the edge one day. I might turn me into a flaming idiot myself.