Shrug It Off

In this vast universe we call the internet, there will always someone to criticize or bemoan something. They are often bloggers (oh hai!), claim to be reporters, or sometimes they're even one of your Facebook "friends," but they're really just contrarians. 

Why are they stating things that are so easy refutable? The answer is simple: money. It's an advertising strategy pioneered by the likes of Drudge on the internet, Coulter in the newspapers, and Fox on the TV.

What they're giving you is not an opinion geared to spur public discourse and improve society or government - it's an effort to get more clicks/likes/shares by bucking the popular opinion, fudging the facts, eliciting anger from the masses, and creating arguments on comment threads and shared Facebook posts. 

Clicks/likes/shares/arguments = $$$

Your initial reaction is to get angry and spend your time formulating an angry response. But when you respond you're playing into their money-making scheme.

Don't do it. Don't feed the beast.

Observe your anger, shrug it off, and move along.

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