Sometimes I Don't Like Blogs

I have a little saying that goes “I’ve never been edified by the comments on a blog.” The word edified means to be encouraged, helped, lifted up, etc, and I find that if I say this mantra aloud when I finish reading a blog, I avoid the pain that inevitably comes from reading blog comments. For the record, this statement is true of YouTube videos, internet news stores, and most Facebook statuses. It seems like no matter what, someone somewhere says something stupid or offensive or insensitive or infuriating. And often I see people arguing on the blog comments, both sides equally unwilling to bend and both sides equally angry over the comments of the other party. I see perfectly wonderful posts ruined by people with nothing better to do that to work up some electronic courage and make a conscious decision to be a downer.


For example, recently I was reading one of my favorite blogs, stuffchristianslike.net, where the author shared a touching story about something his young daughter had done. It was very sweet, and as I finished the story I found myself wanting more, so without thinking I moved on to the first comment left on his blog. As it turned out this comment was an even more touching story about the young daughter of one of his readers, and I thought for a second “is my saying wrong? Was I just edified by reading the comments on a blog?” But then I kept reading (my second mistake). This reader had made a typographical error, and rather than be berated for it in the comments (something commenters love to do) she acknowledged her error with a second post. This was followed by another reader who said “Such a beautiful story, and you’re worried about a spelling error. You need to get your priorities straight.”

Good feeling’s gone.

Why do we do this? Why do we always point out the negative? Why do we like to make people feel bad or tell them what to do? Why do we like to meddle with the lives of complete strangers? Why, when presented with something that is 99.9% beautiful do we obsess over the 0.1% problem? I think Christians can be the worst at this, debating bloggers in the comments section as if an internet debate ever won anyone to Christ. I’m all about knowing why you believe what you believe and for standing up for Christ, but whatever happened to love? What happened to grace and forgiveness? Does the internet remove those responsibilities from our lives? Or can we show love in the things we do not say just as well as we can in the things that we do?

So go ahead and comment on this blog.

But don’t get too excited, I won’t read it.