A couple weeks ago I was “featured” with my girlfriend on “HotChicksWithDouchebags.com.” (EDIT: please do not comment there & defend me!)
It is a high traffic blog where the taunting in comments is as much a part of the site as the pics. I was honored and thrilled. What a great opportunity to practice “Troll Aikido!” So I embraced the “honor,” resisted defending myself, and ended up changing more than a few minds.

By the end of the 200+ comment thread, several people had deleted their earlier insulting posts. A few even checked out my site and became readers. One even joined in this week’s HugNation!
I got this email, too:

“Negative criticism brought me to your site, so I just thought I’d send an email to say I appreciate you for being you. And, yay that negativity turns on itself to bring people together despite their intentions to bring people down. May good will always do that.”

Now, how differently do you think that would have gone if I said, “Screw you! You’re just jealous you losers!”?

The whole experience reminds me of a line in The Course In Miracles that says, “In my defenselessness, my safety lies.”
Amen, douchebags…amen.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 at 9:23 am and is filed under Daily Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.