What if trolls were also people? Yeah, annoying, and cowardly when veiled identities result in words and behaviors they would not engage in otherwise, but isn't that what many people that perceived themselves as being disenfranchised, valid or not, are responding to?
I agree by the way, that writers are not tasked with debating or defending their position. Writers just write, and how a reader is provoked emotionally or intellectually is about them. A good writer is actually provocative, by definition? Commentators can be equally provocative, but perhaps lack the sophistication and nuances of a practiced writer. We're all kind of at our own level of ability to communicate effectively. Some of my best insight came from someone commenting in disagreement.
What I find particularly hopeful about the writer/commentator relationship is this chance to move to a new paradigm of writing. In the old days, as you pointed out, writing was one way. The reader's only choice was to read or not read, to continue reading or not go further. Some people in the past were provoked enough to write authors. I have had no less than ten authors respond to my letters, and I am seriously grateful. Writing is a form of communication, but true communication requires a dialogue. Perhaps not with the author. It's nice to connect with the author, because the author is perceived as 'authority,' valid or not, and they're the initiators of good conversations. If a person writes something particularly good, that should invite comments. Pointing out the fact the writer's job is not to respond to that sounds like a compulsion to respond is there, and you feel it necessary to remind people, I don't have to. It's that, or a way of encouraging people not to respond, which in todays world might mean less views?
I am so grateful for comments that I try to respond to people who comment. Considering your writing is superior and you draw significantly more views and comments, I can imagine I may not want to respond to all comments in a future place where my writing has improved sufficiently to warrant notice. I also had discovered that when I come to a place, either in writing or in video, that lacks comments, or worse, comments are disabled, that I am annoyed. I am sufficiently annoyed that I won't read or watch video, because that feels almost as malicious as anonymous commentators doing hit and runs.
It seems to me writing has changed. In the absence of significant emotional and intellectual reciprocity of interaction in our real lives, we are now forging new ground where writers and viewers merge in co-creating memes and reality. This feels like evolution towards greater freedom of thought and recognition of individual sovereignty. It's still a little rough around the edges, because we're all learning a new way of interfacing.
I am John, by the way. Nice to meet you. And thanks for this post and thoughts. I found it enjoyable.
