One of the many things that saddens me in today’s society is when people engage in unnecessary negativity. There’s nothing wrong with sharing your opinion and making your thoughts known. However, there is something very wrong with those whose opinions include bashing, insults and other negativity that doesn’t need to be there.

What got me thinking about this topic originally was reading reviews that people were placing on books and products. Reviews are supposed to be a way for other people to know whether an item is worth buying or not. They should include specifics about why the product is good or not. This is not a place for one to go off on bashing the product or the creator.

I have seen far too many reviews that were just personal opinion, and worse, they were just hate and bashing. If you don’t like something, that’s fine, but you don’t need to tear down the creator or be hateful in your review. Also, many things are subjective. A fiction book for example, can only be judged by certain standards. You can base a review on grammar, spelling, flow, and some other non-subjective factors. You may or may not like the content, and your opinion of it is just that. Opinion. If you don’t like it, you don’t need to bash the author and call them names or make disparaging remarks about the content.

I also see this behavior on blogs and social networks. People will make comments solely for the purpose of bashing a subject or the writer. They have no intelligent input to add to the topic, they only want to spew hate at the poster or other commenters. As the old saying goes: “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” There is no need to be a troll and cause trouble. If you have nothing better to do than spread hate and anger, perhaps you should stay away from the internet.

There are plenty of places online set aside for the purpose of venting, debating and even bashing and hate speech. If you feel a need to engage in those behaviors, take them to an appropriate place. You’re serving no purpose when you act this way on blogs, social networks and it is especially inappropriate in product reviews.

I can understand an occasional need to vent. I do it myself. However, I’ve never understood people who will go out on the internet just looking for a way to start shit or be disruptive to other people. Those who do this need to take a good look at themselves and figure out what’s wrong with themselves and their lives that makes them need to do it. It’s not the way a decent person should behave. There’s no reason why you can’t just move on and keep your hate to yourself.

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If you’re someone who has been hit by one of these haters, there are a couple things you can do. If a review was left for you that is nothing but negativity and doesn’t offer useful information about your product, try to contact whomever is in control of the site and ask them to remove it. If it’s a comment on your blog or social network, you have a few options. If the site allows, you can simply remove the comment. If not, you can ignore them. Always remember though, “Don’t feed the trolls“. the more you interact with their stupidity and negativity, the more you’re encouraging them to do it. Act as if they’re not even there. More often than not, they’ll move on to a place where they can illicit a reaction. If not, you may need to report them for their behavior.

Overall, it’s often better to bite your tongue and walk away, whether you’re the one tempted to post negativity or the one being egged on by it. It’s important for each of us to make the decision to not be a source of negativity, and to not interact with it in others. If you must say something, try to find something positive or educating to share that will make people think about the issue rather than just contributing to the negative speech.

Briana Blair

Briana Blair is an author and artisan. She has published more then 30 books and thousands of articles across multiple sites. After practicing Paganism and witchcraft for 25 years, she's now on a journey as an atheist and skeptic. She's eclectic, unpredictable, and always evolving. Facebook - Twitter