Criticism is a Dangerous Slope to Slip in the Internet World

Criticism, of the constructive type, is normally a useful - even helpful and desirable tool for improvement. As  I researched for this blog, I uncovered a dark snarky beast hiding in the folds of my mild-mannered Minnesota Hyde.

Our third blog exercise is about finding something on the Internet to criticize. I began my journey by demurely pondering a good site to criticize. With the detached objectivity of a researcher, I considered the easy prey. No, I wouldn't criticize Metro's website.

That's just too easy and I've done it before, I thought.

I turned to the news for something to criticize. Then the idea hit me. I felt the small electric charge zipping along my spine that ended with a sour feeling as I considered the name and whispered it to no one particular.

Ann Coulter.

My normal inclination when reading some news headline about the fierily conservative pundit is to shake my head in dismissal and quickly click to somewhere else. I know she's playing to her fan base. I know her rhetoric feeds the need for controversy that Those Who Inhabit that aisle along the ideological fringe desire.  It isn't any different for the opposite aisle who often spew similar, yet dissimilar rhetoric.

I'm above all this, I think, sipping from my imaginary Latte with my pinky finger sticking out.

Huffington Post

Does my hair suddenly seem just a little "wilder"? Or is it just my middle-aged imagination making up for hair loss? I google "Ann Coulter" and what I see makes me cringe.

"Ann Coulter: Bombing Suspect's Wife Should Be Jailed For Wearing Hijab"


Oh. Come. On... I think.

Surprised by the little frothy spittle on my lips, I quickly wipe it away with a napkin and sheepishly peer out of my cubicle at work.

Did I just make a grunting noise?

Alarmed at my own morbid curiosity, but helpless, I begin reading the article. Pulsing between fascination and horror, I can only get so far before I need to stop. I'm breathing a little too hard now. Are my eyes seeming a little white around the edges like a caged animal?

Blinking back the crazy, the student researcher in me re-emerges for a brief moment. I wonder about other articles and whether they might add some nice context to my blog post.

Ooh, ohh, yea. Like this one.  And I'm off to the races again.

Before I know it, I'm flashing back to a headline I saw some time ago. I recall that Coulter suggested that the daughter of a prominent politician should be murdered.

Meghan McCain goes on Twitter rant against Ann Coulter

As I read on, Ann Coulter slowly returns to just a sideline irritation. My adrenaline begins to fade and the whites around my eyes return to normal. My cube looks worse for wear; wheel marks from my chair make crazy eights in the carpet and my coffee is all gone.

I straighten my shirt, comb my hair back with my fingers, and begin to write my blog exercise without recalling what just happened.

I'm above all this, I think.

This is my blogging exercise 3