The Recipe to Creating Controversy

I don’t know about you but it doesn’t seem to take much to start controversy on the Internet. Yes, my friends, the Internet can be a ugly place to visit. As a reader I was rather baffled by all the discussion surrounding an Amazon review. I’m not linking to it. It just goes to show you that the smallest things can turn into the biggest controversies… There must be a secret to starting controversy.

Just what is the secret recipe for creating controversy? I thought that they initially started with people who had nothing else better to do like me. Hell, I don’t know but it usually starts like this:

• Have an opinion —  — on anything 
• Share that opinion with everybody
• Pick a topic or review from anywhere and highlight the important parts
• Important to have links in your post otherwise we’d have to search for it and everybody knows that is a no-no
• Send out a wolf call to all rabid fans and have them post like crazy
• Doesn’t hurt to email about a million buddies about the alleged incident
• Knowledge about the incident is not necessary to join the discussion (nada, nothing, just jump right in like I do)

I am guilty on that last one and sometimes, I can’t help myself. Alas, lately it hasn’t been worth my time to read over every scandal that crops up. Sometimes it is entertaining stuff but other times — not.  I should start leaving comments like “big deal” and “free speech” and “first amendment rights” all over the place just for fun.

Everybody has an opinion and I usually don’t agree with over half of them. Especially on the famous speech that starts with the “My mama taught me that if I can’t say anything nice….”  Want my opinion on that? You can stuff that quote up your arse. What people have to say isn’t always nice but sometimes it can be helpful. I agree that it doesn’t have to be hateful. I found nothing wrong with the review in question (and no I’m not linking to it). The author’s response to it was amusing and it should have been left at that.

Tip for posters: humor, sarcasm, all the usual non-verbal communication skills are significant when communicating with people face to face? This is obviously missing on the Internet and thus your post maybe misconstrued, misunderstood and completely insulting without your knowledge or intention.

Just sayin…