So, a while ago, I wrote about Qatar and why you shouldn’t watch the World Cup… and ever since then, a lot of people with started throwing around these “hate comments” but they just land in the spam folder because WordPress does a great job at keeping those at bay… and a few them have been rather amusing, actually.
One of them states: “YOU ARE POOP” – another states: “FUCK GAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” (that’s copy+paste for ya, I simply couldn’t be arsed to count the exclamation marks).
Note: I’m well-aware that these may have been written by the same person, especially considering the time sent. Still, funny.
And they’re just… hilarious. I honestly don’t feel attacked at all. As a pansexual, I actually support “fuck gay”. I mean, hell yeah! Gay Pride! And “You’re poop” is just sort of naive, for a lack of a better word, as it is supposed to attack me but if anything it just exposes the person that is defending modern-day slavery by attacking the person trying to talk about how that is wrong.
A few others were not as childish. There were a few that (I think?) said “Go die” or something along those lines. It was very broken English but I got the message and took it to heart. I’ll consider it next time. I decided to delete those because they’re just… not very amusing… I mean, they’re not exactly all that harmful compared to what other people have gone through, but they’re also not funny.
I decided to keep these two in a special place: The “Pending” Folder… the place where comments that need to be approved by moderation land in. It’s a special place reserved for just these two.
This situation, however, made me realise that some people don’t really understand what I’m trying to say at times. This could be due to a language barrier (although I tried to combat that by including a “Google Translate” widget in the side bar) or because of deeply rooted bigotry that doesn’t allow any opinion that is possibly harmful to their personal beliefs… but let’s not talk about those reasons. They don’t matter this time around.
What I’m actually trying to get at is the fact that I – as someone on the autistic spectrum – struggle with conversations and people skills and explaining what I’m trying to say. It’s a skill that I don’t possess currently… but it’s not something that I just want to accept. I want to get better at that.
My post on Qatar – and the follow-up to that – aren’t islamophobic or racist or anything like that… In fact, I tried to make sure while editing that it doesn’t come across as anything like that, especially as a Muslim who has a migration background… That’d be bad. Imagine being an islamophobic Muslim. I mean, those probably exist but I don’t wanna come across like that.
No, I simply wanted to spread awareness in a way that is somewhat neutral and objective… and that’s difficult because I already had the goal of the post in mind: Boycott the World Cup. To get there, I wrote down reasons… I then elaborated on those reasons… provided sources… and tried to write a piece that is somewhat neutral with a somewhat clear message:
“Don’t send hate to people but also don’t watch the World Cup. Also, fuck FIFA.”
And near the end of the post, I tried to bring in my opinion a bit more… and I analysed Giannini’s speech… a little bit. And then I just stopped holding back near the end.
That approach of “writing with a conclusion in mind” may not be “bad” but it’s also not exactly good. It’s what a lot of tabloids do that just want to depict someone in a bad light. That’s something I dislike… and this encounter with some very hateful people and some rather amusing commenters made me think about this.
In the future, I may still write biased posts like that one. I mean, I like writing biased posts on topics with my opinion on subjects.
Buuuuuuut… I’d also like to publish more posts that start with a question… and they end with an answer… and the in-between is just me trying to find the answer to the question… and during the write-up, I’d do research on the matter.
//Example//
As an example, I have this post that I want to write on the topic of whether or not “masculinity” is inherently bad. In my opinion (as it stands right now) I believe that the concept of masculinity is neutral if anything. It’s not a good thing or a bad thing. It’s just something “neutral”, possibly. The issue here would be that the concept is something that was made up and consists of values and ideas that are no longer up-to-date or that have been reformed in recent years. Because of that, it can’t really be “neutral”.
And the idea for that post came to be when I wondered if “toxic masculinity”‘s (I’d prefer “fragile masculinity”, hence the quotation marks) existence means that there is something like “non-toxic masculinity” or “good masculinity” and off the top of my head, I simply couldn’t find an answer to that. When would you say is masculinity “good”? By that, I mean that there aren’t really cases like that. Being masculine is just a trait, I guess… and not being masculine isn’t negative or positive either.
But that’s semantics. I’ve got papers to read on the matter and during my research, I’d love to find out the answer to that question… and that post would then start with a question and as I take my notes, I would formulate an opinion… and by the end of my research, I’d be able to answer the question.
//Example End//
I think that approach might work a little better to achieve a more scientific result where I don’t sound like a biased or even bigoted prick that just spouts nonsense and tries to agitate people.
That wasn’t the intention of the original post… and I don’t think it came across like that, especially considering the positive responses I’ve received on the post. I’m not defending myself here but rather trying to explore whether or not my approach is flawed.
…which is where you as a reader (hi, btw!) come in: Do you think that something like that is necessary? A change in the approach. Would you rather see a post that explores a subject rather than a post that is biased from the start? Let me know!
This post was first published on Indiecator by Dan Indiecator aka MagiWasTaken. If you like what you see here and want to see more, you can check me out on Twitch and YouTube as well. If you find this post on a website other than Indiecator.org, please write an e-mail to me. Thank you!
Indiecator 
Leave a Reply