On the first page of the photo gallery, someone made a comment and then several others chimed in. The comments were all negative except the last one - whoever you are, thank you - the worst claiming that because the house was so ugly therefor the designers and the people who live there must be ugly as well.
Then the incident with Lara Logan happened in Egypt. Hateful comments made about her by rabid right-wingers spewed forth. But it brought about a very thoughtful examination of what the ability to comment anonymously on the internet allows people to get away with. The negative comments about our house are exceptionally trivial in comparison.
Maureen Dowd had a great column in the NY Times. And then just today James Rainey wrote a similar column in the LA Times. Which, to make a long story short, resulted in the worst comment about our house being taken down.
But the issue remains. Why does anonymity give license to hate-speech on the internet? Why can't we be civil - always - no matter what the forum?
I don't have the answer.
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