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The Occasional Jerk 
On another blog of mine, a commenter left a reassuring bit of advice tome under my post, "What is it to be an artist?". I'll quote verbatim:
Yeh. You're not a writer. Hard to imagine how you'll become one. But the first lesson you need to learn is to focus on the most basiccomponents of your craft first -- which means sentences and fundamental grammar. Forget about those wise-ass quotations fromreal writers. You're a million miles from there. Walk before you run.
And my response?
Be careful what you pretend to be because you are what youpretend to be.
 That's Kurt Vonnegut.Doubt, Mr. Toast, is natural for any writer or artist. I'm not ashamed of my doubts about my writing; in fact, I embrace them. This seems to bedifficult for people like yourself who pretend otherwise.I know I'm a writer. Freelance writing pays my bills. I write for law firms,non-profit organizations, and companies. The post was asking the question, "Am I an artist?"But judging by your posts, Mr. Toast, you seem to delight in flingingvenom at other writers. Such as Nigel Beale from Nota Bene Books,who happens to be writing the next article for“Escape into Life” .A little more investigation about the anonymous jerk on the Internetwill reveal one thing. You're not alone. He does this to everyone.Mr. Toast (happens to think he's a literary luminary) and enjoys, yes,downright relishes, telling people they suck at what they love to do.I'm not going to reference his website here because he doesn't deservethe attention, but on countless posts people are leaving comments onhis blog basically to tell him to fuck off. The occasional jerk is not a new phenomenon. There were jerks beforethe Internet and there will be jerks after it. But cyberspace, and
 
especially the blogosphere, does lend itself to the flourishing of thesetrolls.From
Communities in Cyberspace
, by Peter Kollack,
Even a casual trip through cyberspace will turn up evidence of hostility,selfishness, and simple nonsense. Yes the wonder of the Internet is not that there is so much noise, but that there is any significant cooperation at all.
Having recently indoctrinated myself into Twitter, I was surprised tofind out not how much vileness and stupidity there was but just theopposite. I discovered a spontaneous overflow of conviviality andmutual interest. Twitter forms a different ecosystem than the blogosphere. Because theposts are so short, it is less a reflection of one's self (although it canbe, of course) and more an interaction with the community.I'm addicted to Twitter. I love the simultaneous conversation withhundreds of people. Amid the noise, you sense a spectacular drivingforce of mass communication upturning all of our notions about what itis to communicate. The occasional jerk shows up on Twitter as well, I would imagine. Butthere's nothing like a blogger who insists on drawing attention to hisown blog by making rude comments on other people's blogs.He is alone in his self-hatred.In "The Blogosphere is Full of Jerks", Dave Schuler writes:
Finally, there’s the jerk, the individual who contributes nothing positiveto the common objective but is always ready with a put-down for thosewho are trying to accomplish something.
And here:
You can’t remonstrate with a jerk: the jerk can always respond withmore of the same. The only alternatives are to become a jerk yourself or to shut up and take it in silence.
I've only come across the occasional jerk. Mostly, however, I findpeople who are generous with their support, thoughtful, and interestedin what I'm doing. If they're not interested in what I'm doing, they'll goto another webpage. Which works out. Not everyone shares the sameinterests.
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