As I start blogging, I do
so with some trepidation. Normally blogs have some sort of comment feature. The
purpose behind such a feature is to have readers leave behind thoughtful comments.
In reality, however, comments on most blogs that I have read are ignorant,
hate-filled, and incoherent diatribes.
I am not the only one to notice the problem. Arthur Brooks
in his book, Gross National Happiness,
asks why ideologues are happy: “The most plausible reason is religion—not real religion, but rather, a secular
substitute in which they believe with perfect certainty in the correctness of
their political dogmas. . . . True political believers are martyrs after a
fashion, willing to shout slogans in public for causes they are sure are good,
or against causes they are convinced are evil. They are happy because—unlike
you, probably—they are positive they
are right.”[1]
Brooks notes that true political believers tend to consider themselves happy but they delight in making those around them
unhappy. “The unhappiness created by happy people with extreme political views
extends far beyond those stuck behind them in traffic and exposed to their
bumper stickers. There is evidence that people with extreme views affect
everybody adversely, because they are less compassionate than average, less
honest, and less concerned for others.”[2]
They want to stir like-minded people to action. “In the extremist’s mind, it’s good if you get angry.”[3]
But is it?
The Book of Mormon, as usual, has some interesting
commentary on the subject. The letter of Mormon to his son Moroni preserved in
Moroni 9 contains some of the most depressing passages in scripture:
descriptions of the barbarous practices of the Nephites who “only a few years”
previously had been “a civil and a delightsome people” (Moroni 9:12). One cause
of the depravity was that “Satan stirreth them up continually to anger one with
another” (Moroni 9:3). This is one reason why I am not overly enthusiastic
about comments.
