Soapbox

Trolls under the Bridge.

To use the current vernacular:
    That awkward moment when some thing you wrote starts getting passed around on social media, and gets a thousand "share"s and two thousand likes, and it posted on several well-read pages, and somebody gives it to BBC Wales and people are saying how profound it is (and also what a piece of shit it is!) and you read over it again to see what all the fuss is about and realize it's your first draft they're passing aorund: you have revised and edited it several times since then  and don't really like this version.

   I know it's just 'not done' to self-criticize when someone offers you effusive- even undeserved praise. I have tried to learn just to say "Thank you". And then there are the critics, like the guy on the page "I Love it When I Wake up in the Morning And Barack Obama is President" who went on a screed longer than my original essay, faulting me for 1) saying that all non-Obama supporters are racists and secessionists  2)supporting all the terrible things Obama has done 3) wanting illegal immigrants to vote 4)wanting general overall cheating and mayhem to run rampant in America (honestly, it was too rant-y and dull to remember it all) and  4)Not understanding federalism.
   I have learned that it is an exercize in futility to engage people like this. They aren't going to listen: if they were listeners, they would have paid attention to what you actually wrote/said in the first place. They've demonstrated that this is not behavior they engage in. Nor is the truth up there on their list of priorities. Fervor and disdain are worthy substitutes in their book. If you try to answer  their complaints, you just get drawn into a shouting match- even if you aren't shouting. The only reason to respond to comments like this are to please your supporters who are reading his complaints and getting annoyed , and to relieve that dental-drill sound inside your head that reading illogical bursts of anger like this can induce. After careful thought, I replied with the following points:
    1)I called the racists and secessionsts racists and secessionists. If the shoe doesn't fit, leave it in the closet. 2)I never mentioned Barack Obama or a single policy of his that I either approve or disapprove of. Therefore, 3) You have made a lot of assumptions about what I believe and back them up with no facts- merely a lot of anger.  4)You should see someone about that.
   I figure that last bit will make his head explode.

   Oh, and the Stanford Encyclopedia would seem to mostly agree with me on Federalism. His definition seems to describe a Confederacy.