TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

Can someone declare 2011 the year of angry Internet comments?

I'd even venture to guess there are millions of keyboards and touch screens that want to tell some of their owners to simmer down. Hey, maybe that new Siri chick on the iPhone can be programmed to intervene after a combination of harsh words, and then say, "I'm sorry, you're acting like an imbecile. How about you hit delete?"

Case in point: On the local news story about a deputy striking two pedestrians in mid-December, posted online, there were more than a hundred and something comments, most of which drew sharp lines of hate and blame.

To me, the only appropriate response is sadness. Two people were dead a little more than a week before Christmas. Everything else is angry tripe. Instead, you have people blaming the pedestrians because they're from Oildale, and you have people blaming cops because they're cops.

When people start spinning around in these nonsensical, overbroad vanities of hateful things, I'm thinking two things. One, anyone who actually knows what it's like to be in that situation -- from either side -- has more pressing concerns than being stupid online. And two, there are a lot of empty people out there who can't see they're making the situation worse, not better, by lacing things with regrettable words.

And when such is called for what it is -- aka the angry tripe -- and then removed to spare others from pain, online posters often bring up their right to free speech. Yeah, the First Amendment is awesome and stuff, but I don't recall it giving people the right to be nutty and rude. People don't need to pretend that the spilled blood of colonialists more than 200 years ago entitles them to act like foul-mouthed blowhards because they have a screen name and an avenue to both spout-off and avoid eye contact at the same time.

So, so many sour grapes. Even the social networking sites, designed to bring people together, are getting to the point where they are more like battlegrounds than message and comment boards. There are even people on Facebook who get all riled up and dare you to defriend them if you don't agree with them. Look, I consider myself a fairly agreeable and fun individual -- I really haven't had too many hurdles in making and keeping friends -- but dear me, even I don't think I am so irrevocably loved and ultra-cool to dare people to stop being my friend. I mean, where is that going to get someone? All alone with only their beloved electronic device? Siri doesn't actually love you. You know that, right?

It's gotten to the point where I try to steer clear of any online comment section because it seems to be a breeding ground for unpleasantness. My go-to stance for my own online commenting is that if I wouldn't say it to someone's face, then I shouldn't let my screen name do all the dirty work. I don't think the Internet's foundational premises included giving people the right to be the jerks they don't have the courage to be in the flesh.

Of course, I have been guilty of much of this. (I don't dare people not to be my friend, but of the rest, I can think of a few personal examples.) Then I became a writer, putting my work all over the place like big, blazoned targets. Perspective certainly shifted when I started receiving the blows rather than pitching them. I'll never forget the very first piece of email I received upon getting this spot in the paper. It was from a lady who wrote me three paragraphs -- three whole ones -- on how I misused the word "just." And she was angry about it.

That is "just" silly. It seemed an awful amount of energy to get upset over a word. But what's worse . . . I responded! I defended my use of the word. But why? Oh yeah, because I was angry, too. I have my rights, by gum! You blast at me, and I blast at you, and then we're both . . . oh wait . . . still sitting in front of our computers, ignoring the more glorious points of life, and getting carpel tunnel syndrome while our legs go numb.

Look, bottom line is we have a responsibility to be kind to one another. In fact, if you're up for a resolution, how about for 2012 we all resolve not to set anyone straight unless we're willing to do it over a cup of coffee and a smile.

Heather Ijames is one of three community columnists whose work appears here every Saturday. These are the opinions of Ijames, not necessarily The Californian's. You can send email to her at heatherijames@hotmail.com Next week: Inga Barks.