"The fact that you don't like it or get it - That's fine. The fact that you have to try and make everybody else feel bad for liking it - THAT'S what makes you an asshole."Bill Hicks (December 16, 1962 - February 26, 1994)
Why did I opt for this typically pungent Bill Hicks quote? It's not just because I find the late satirist fearless, trenchant, prescient and searingly funny. It derives from my unending disgust for the sub-human manners rampant throughout Al Gore's Internets over the past unhinged decade.
"Comments" sections in particular are often dominated by the immature and mentally deranged among us. Why these folks derive pleasure out of trashing and vilifying everything someone else might like, hiding behind anonymity in a "hit and run" fashion, I don't know.
Now there are folks who would accuse such cutting-edge satirists as Hicks, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Lenny Bruce, Mark Twain or Jonathan "A Modest Proposal" Swift of doing exactly what I just described, viciously attacking everything they hold near and dear, but IMO, this would be totally off-base - and also, bluntly, perceiving the world strictly on Level One.
Since the mean-spirited and mind numbingly dim-witted are on just about every portal, all the social networking sites where we can choose to waste time, and dominating corporate broadcast media, it's a good idea to avoid the bullshit as if the words are carrying active, kill-you-painfully Ebola virus - because they are.
And now (thankfully, finally, at last - it's about fucking time), back to standup philosopher Bill Hicks:
