Real Life Tao - Getting Nasty

Trey Smith

I'd say that most people who maintain any sort of web presence -- particularly those who run a blog or website -- have been exposed to people who can't simply disagree with your point of view, but feel the need to be nasty about it. Rather than write, "I disagree with x because...," they decide to resort to name-calling and being as disagreeable as possible.

These sorts of episodes used to get under my skin, but no more. I've decided that it's rather pointless getting all up in arms over such situations. What a lot of these sorts of individuals want is a skirmish, a pitched battle or a war. They want to goad you into a tit-for-tat exchange.

This is a good time to recall a simple line from Verse 8 of the Tao Te Ching: No fight: No blame.

It takes at least two to tango. While most of us do not relish being disrespected and/or made fun of, a fight will only break out if we each choose to engage in one. There are times when we each may feel that a stand needs to be taken, but, by and large, most such situations -- particularly those on the internet -- aren't worth the time and effort.

So, you're welcome to write whatever you want in the comments section. You can be as rude, crude and socially unacceptable as your little heart desires. Just note that I will either ignore it completely or, on those occasions I do choose to respond, it won't be in the same manner as you.

This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.