I appreciate you Galen! Even if you are a gun-toting mush 

> G-dog shoots guns, so mush be a redneck, gun-toting criminal.

# 😁

Good post

Some times I am rude back to be honest, but it is generally with a point, example "thank you for putting words in my mouth", very easy to type when they state you said and you did not. 

A lot of times I will just ignore the negativity, and move on. I did after-all at one point have over 100 people on mute. One of the things I really like about the block chain style of social interaction. 

I also will on occasion engage with the person with questions like "How did you come to that conclusion with what I wrote"? "Perhaps you misread my post and intent"? But I very rarely step down to the level of negativity that some people can throw out.

It is easy to be cruel and uncaring when on line, it allows people a chance to lash out blindly,in real life given no consequences for their actions they will lash out there also if they feel they can get away with it. 

There have been study after studies about power over others and committing harm on others. In the United States, i think at Sanford University they ran the Guard Prisoner study. If you push this button you will cause pain to the prisoner. Almost all of the guards would push the button. 

wiki link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment#:~:text=experiment%20was%20discontinued.-,Conclusions,%2C%20caused%20the%20participants'%20behavior.

You can change people and their behavior, it just seems it is easier to turn them into Megalomaniacs than into Mother Teresa's.

You know?  I read through this and the responses and I could feel the burr under my butt start to cause me some distress which is directly connected to my mind and more importantly to my mouth (or fingers by extension).

But I was out of coffee and went for a new cup before I rose to my eloquent rage.  It turns out I needed to make another pot (daren't run out of coffee at this time of the day).  Guess what?  I didn't have enough beans left for a pot so I had to open a new bag.  The smell of fresh roasted coffee filled my entire kitchen, and I just stood there sniffing for a minute or so.  Then I ground the beans and headed back here and I just didn't have the eloquent or any other sort of rage.  It just smells too good in here to be anything but a grinning idiot.

Which begs the point.  If everybody would just go make a fresh pot of coffee before they fired away at another human there'd be a lot less firing and a lot more humanness around.

That's the thing isn't it?  In order to fire away at somebody, particularly somebody you don't know, you have to disavow their humanity, at least to a degree.

I believe in numbers.  I honestly believe for every attack like that there are 100 people that just can't be bothered.  Whether they've just made a fresh pot, or just gotten laid, or generally just don't care enough to join the rage.  My point is that it's not the whole world fomenting the attack, it's an individual.  How important are they in the overall course of things?

On an only vaguely related topic:  I had a chance to fire away on an individual yesterday late and I let it pass.  She was on an 'it's not fair' rant, a behavior that is guaranteed to irritate me.  Then I thought what a Karen and I had to smile.  My first ex was named Karen and every time I hear or think that designation I can't help myself.  I smile and think "Yep.  Nice call."  

Just from one gun toting, red neck asshole to another, don't you know?

i found that a lot of times people are surprised by kindness, especially when they expect conflict and they don't know how to react to it.

Genuinely happy people don't hurt others, they are too busy with living their lives. I have found that usually emotionally wounded people who haven't healed are the most ferocious attackers. They ***vomit negativity*** like you said and I would also add that they vomit pain... I think that most of us might have been attackers too at some point, what matters is if we realize the damage and apologize. Because everyone has soft spots, we can feel hurt even if the other person didn't meant to hurt us. Intentional malice and vindictive behaviour on purpose is another story. I would stay away from people who fail to admit they have a problem within themselves. I also learned a lot about myself while dealing with negativity, from others and sometimes from myself. Learning to apologize comes from forgiving yourself first and trying to understand the other, without turning to savior mode. Nobody can save anyone from themselves and becoming a better person is a personal responsibility. No one is to blame for your behavior than yourself, your thoughts, your actions. A lot of people blame others for their negativity and that's what stops them from healing and changing themselves.

You put this together really well, @galenkp. Before I forget, I'm glad I got you in my *sights* again.

I couldn't agree with you more. I'm currently working on something along these same lines where I'll likely mention the obvious such as the current market position of hive. 🤔  I'm already prepared for the backlash--hashtag fuck it!

I can remember when Steem was a top 25 *start-up* and the current market position has that same start-up substantially in front of this one. As I said, I'm currently piecing an article together in this regard and these are just a few points I intend to make.

Speaking from my own experience, sir, I can't even release a comedy piece these days where I specifically mention the word "joke" in the first paragraph--6th word to be exact, without catching heat.

Thanks for putting this one together, Galen, very well documented, and I couldn't agree with you more. You have my full support. You adore your wife which is admirable in itself. You're supportive, you write well *(and often 😉)*, I'm glad we *met* and this ain't a ass kissin--it's real. From my own experience on this platform which is my very first type of social media experience, the realer we are, the more shots we take. No pun.

Another one we're all very familiar with--*if you can't say something nice, don't say*..... ahh.. I forgot how it goes. 

Now you and Faith go have the best weekend of the whole got dang year Dammit--you're in my scope.

Some people are just mad at the world, and when they successfully bring you down to their level, it brings them some kind of twisted happiness. Sad, but true.

I think jealousy is the biggest culprit here, I see it all the time. A pretty girl on the internet with a lavish looking lifestyle gets the most hate, everyone wants to be her but know they can’t so try to bring her down. I occasionally have to check myself and ask why am I thinking negatively about some random hottie on the internet, it’s not healthy!

As nice the internet and the online world can be, as advantageous it is for people to be rude and show their dark side to random guys for no reason without knowing *(or caring)* that those may suffer when they read their words. 

I personally find it a very toxic place where people will be roughly criticised for anything they do or share without impacting someone's life directly, and a place where you can't really share your feelings to the other part, being very easy to misinterpret their answers without being able to see if they smile or are angry or their mood on that moment. 

But we are in 2020 already and the world becomes more and more digitalized and we can't really step back from it because it also represents our futures. Don't know yet if this is good or not :(

I am busy working with my self esteem, its really low. The last thing i would do is to leave a comment to make someone feel the way i do. If you have nothing nice to say say nowt.

I'm definitely for bringing up someone's esteem. But Truth and corrections are needed to be done, not in a destructive negative way of course.

Who dat bitch?  I hate that nonsense

I agree with what you say. In fact, thanks to people who make comments full of hatred and desire to bring others down disguised as "constructive criticism," I have become a little closed to the true intent of these comments when I genuinely receive them. Reading you, I remembered my mom telling me one of her favorite phrases "there is more to giving than receiving". I will start applying it more.

This is the part where we say some people are just fond of exibiting unnecessary attitudes towards their fellow. 

Sometimes, to be honest, it makes them feel better - even though the betterment is only a prank because they can never be better. I have been on the receiving end of such attacks myself and in most cases, I just behave myself and act cool while the other person do ths talking and lashing. However, to be honest, in some very scarce occasions, I lash out back, even heavier. 

This do happen if the person involved had done this for some countless number of days. But you are so dam right. Even at me returning the favor by lashing out completely, I never feel satisfied. It is either I have this feeling I haven't done enough damage yet or something. But keep it cool make me feel I was matured and that alone satisfies me.

To round it up, I think the hidden agenda towards all these is the fact the annoying folk is jealous of the other or having a feeling of mediocrity as compared to the other. 

I have little time for angry people online. I don't like to overuse the word but it can get very toxic. I've not encountered too much negativity on the Hive but from time to time on other platforms the outpouring of anger and misdirected hate is quite appalling and it basically stems from a feeling of safety from behind the keyboard. I feel in many ways you've led by example on this platform in that you don't hold back you state your case but you are fair and level about it. Mostly you're fun which is why we should be here. As people have said it is an uncensored platform which is great so when it comes  to those fueled by hate on here I doubt they'll get much traction. Attention is sometimes what they crave so best not to feed a hateful ego. 
I also agree with what you said about elevating ones own esteem by elevating anothers. Wise words indeed and this is the polar opposite of whats accomplished by these folks. It's interesting that as I read through the comments here there are a lot of familiar names. I am sure we are all quite different people but i think we gravitate towards others with a good vibe and positive outlooks on things. I don't think thats a coincidence.