The Triumph of Archibald Dillinger

In the 2006 NBC series Kidnapped, the hero, Lucian Knapp (played by Jeremy Sisto, right) tells someone that as a child he had an “imaginary enemy” named Archibald Dillinger. “What happened to your imaginary enemy?” the person says. “He's still around,” Knapp replies. Boy, is he ever and he seems to have multiplied.

For several years now I've been watching the growth of open hostility and general nastiness that seems to be spreading, especially on the internet, but in the rest of the country, too. For years I participated in a local internet message board and over that time it seemed the enmity got worse and worse and worse. At first attacks were mostly situational focused on the subject under discussion but gradually every argument became ad hominem to the point where there was no need to construct a coherent argument because no one would read it, the attacks would be entirely personal. About a year ago I quit posting there and about six months ago I stopped even bothering to read there and I must say my life has improved because of it. Nobody needs that much negativity in their life.

But I have been paying attention to the nature of insane, hate-filled nastiness which seems to be everywhere on the internet these days. As news sites, opinion sites, blogs, etc. increasingly add Comment sections, those that are unmoderated have become increasingly filled with hate. Last week I was watching a YouTube video of a gorgeous performance by  Hawaiian singer Israel Kamakawiwoʻole and made the mistake of scrolling down to the comments. I was flabbergasted at the meanness of many of the remarks about the man (who is dead now) and all I kept thinking was what did the people who posted those comments get out of writing them? What need in them did that fulfill?

It is something of a coincidence that in the same week that Anne Rice announced her resignation from Christianity and denounced Christians as “quarrelsome, hostile, [and] disputatious” one of the kindest, warmest, most wonderful Christians, Sister Denise Mosier, O.S.B. was killed by a drunk driver. I've been following the discussions of both of these events on Anne Rice's Facebook page and Huffington Post's article on Sister Denise and all I have to say is no group, Christian or otherwise, has a market on being quarrelsome, hostile, [and] disputatious. The only people more quarrelsome, hostile, [and] disputatious than Christians are the people who hate Christians – and there are many of them.

Last night I watched two documentaries, one on SnagFilms.com about a community's hatred toward gays in their community and another on YouTube about the rise of white hate groups in America. It's frightening. This has gone way beyond personal bigotry into outright hate-filled rage against just about everyone – blacks, browns, gays, the poor, the overweight, the unemployed, the disabled, Christians, Catholics, non-Christians. The list is endless. And it seems the more well-meaning people (like Ms. Rice) attempt opening dialogue the more the hatred rages and spreads. It scares me. Having had my own problems with liars and a stalker out to ruin my reputation I know how dangerous this is.

It's epidemic. Teens are committing suicide because of bullying. Brown gangs are fighting black gangs. Faux-Christians like the horrible Westboro Baptist Church are making a full time practice of fomenting hate. And beautiful, loving souls like Sister Denise Mosier are dying at the hands of a drunk driver. The Sisters of St. Benedict made a plea to the public to not politicize (anti-immigration) Sr. Denise's death but to no avail.

Comedian Russell Brand (left) has a hilarious segment in his Live in New York Comedy Central special where he reads some of the hate-mail he received after his notorious comments about George Bush at the VMA awards a few years ago. He's very, very funny (of course he is, he's Russell Brand) but listening to the content of the letters you can't help but wonder what is wrong with these people? Are we an entire nation of the mentally ill? Brand poses the question why someone would bother to take the time to write these letters instead of just changing the channel. It's a very good question. Why indeed.

I'm starting to wonder if all these opportunities for “dialogue” are a good thing. Especially because very few people seem to be dialoguing – they're just ranting. And ranting and ranting and ranting.

Time to change the channel, people. Seriously.

Here's Izzy:

Thanks for reading.