Loving what they hate

Here at the Sonoma Valley Sun newspaper we receive all sorts of comments about the articles we publish online. Most are thoughtful, well-written and respectful, but others are not. The latter follow a simple formula: rants filled with complaint, ridicule, name-calling, bigotry, ugliness and threats.

Any article we publish about gender-related issues predictably generates homophobic comments. Articles about race stimulate a stream of anti-immigrant rhetoric, and articles about environment or climate change bring forth a torrent of anti-leftist insults. From dismissively calling us and our writers “pony-tailed baby boomers” to “Marxists” and “anti-white,” the repertoire of epithets is lengthy and repetitive.

Many of the comments come from masked web servers. The names of senders are all fake, and some IP addresses lead to websites filled with hate and resentment. None of the hateful comments see the light of day; they are sent to the trash bin. But it makes no difference to the senders who continue to obsessively read the Sonoma Valley Sun to find something to hate. Not surprisingly, they regularly complain that their ugly, defamatory screeds never get posted..

That we have readers who loyally enjoy our paper online every day is satisfying. Since we’ve reconstituted the Sonoma Valley Sun into a nonprofit, we’ve received donations each and every week, many with kind notes of appreciation for our efforts. And yet, there are those who visit our website everyday not because they like what we do, but because they hate it.

We wonder what compels some people to love hating so much that they can’t stop looking at what they hate. No doubt, psychologists could provide a ready explanation for such behavior. Is it masochism, a desire to painfully self-stimulate to the point of outrage? Perhaps it’s a form of compulsive confirmation bias, repeatedly subjecting oneself to the thoughts and behavior of others to reaffirm the truth of one’s own beliefs? Maybe, it’s just plain boredom, a way for the lonely and disaffected to spend hours trying to bring meaning into their lives.

Writing letters to the editor in response to an article or editorial requires including a valid name and address – the latter of which is not made public but allows verification of identity. But on the Internet, the nasty notes and lengthy diatribes we receive are the product of people who cowardly disguise themselves in order to remain anonymous. But there’s more irony than that.

Many of these people, who are now called internet trolls, complain about censorship and that their comments are never published. Free speech, they complain, is not being allowed in the Sonoma Valley Sun newspaper, even though the First Amendment protects free speech from interference by government, not by private enterprise. We suspect the whole free speech angle is just a red herring, a rhetorical device simply used as an argument to prop up their nonsense.

Sending hateful comments to the trash bin is easy; it just takes a click. We don’t like doing it, but it seems to be the price that has to be paid in this age of anonymous internet trolling. Meanwhile, we encourage you to submit your thoughts to share with others. They don’t have to be brilliant or even particularly well-written, just thoughtful, respectful of others, and under 250 words. And signed by you, with an address provided for our information, that we will not publish. 

Sonoma Valley Sun Editorial Board