I Hate Feeling This Way

AHA! HA! YES!

YES! I have figured it out.

It's the comment threads. I HATE news related comment threads.

I've been feeling repulsed by politics lately. Repelled by the news, in general. A visceral reaction. I've recoiled, wanting to avoid the sense of irritation and anger I felt when reading the news online. The feeling like I want to lash out and post angry, sarcastic things in the comment threads to people who I feel are being idiots.

I HATE feeling like that...I HATE IT, because I know there's some dude on the opposite side of that screen who is probably a decent fellow when push comes to shove. Probably has a gaggle of kids crawling on him and he's a great father. Probably donates freely to Toys for Tots but says idiotic inflamatory things on the Internet as late-night entertainment to unwind from a hard, frustrating day or work, or WORSE...because he gets angry at something HE disagrees with and just can't help himself...in which case the online comment threads are just a horrible self-feeding hate machine.

GOD I feel awful after reading them. I feel awful and upset and uncomfortable.

I just want to punch people. I hate feeling like that.

I'm fine with ideological struggle, but I'm not fine when we start thinking of our neighbors as bad people because of their politics.

I went in to start reading some news today after a long hiatus and felt fine right up until I started back in with the news comment threads and there it was again. That anger. That instinct to lash out and eviscerate somebody who probably just had a shitty day and is venting on the Internet.

I need to avoid at all costs the comment threads. It's going to take me days to recover from reading this last set of news comments. GRrrrrr.