As regular readers know, I’ve been trying to push my local newspaper, Newsday, to improve its content, particularly its editorial content, through constructive criticism.  Since Newday’s subscribership has floundered, perhaps they would consider my friendly suggestions.

In the course of this effort, I’ve paid closer attention to the comments section to their editorials, and have offered some contributions that would, perhaps, challenge the editorial board to consider more pointed and fully conceived positions.  Because I do this very early in the morning, and was not stopping back later to see what developed, it seems that I missed out on a very important development, the comments of my fellow residents of Long Island.  When I did, I was surprised, to put it mildly.

For those who hail from elsewhere, Long Island is largely a mature, bedroom suburb of New York City, having been developed after World War II.  Before that, it was the country home of the old guard (read The Great Gatsby) and clamdiggers.  As a suburb of the Big Apple, one might suspect that it shares a certain educational, cosmopolitan culture, together with its liberal leanings.  One might suspect that.  One might be wrong.

I took a look back at two recent editorials that caught my interest, the first, Policing the Police, and the second, True Patriots Ask Questions.  Neither editorial, from my perspective, was particularly controversial.  Indeed, both were relatively pointless, stating the obvious and offering nothing constructive or novel.  These were what I would call “safe” editorials, designed to offend no one.

But that didn’t mean that they didn’t generate some interesting comments from readers.  At least, I supposed they are readers, giving them the benefit of the doubt that they can read.  The first thing that struck me is the pervasiveness of anonymity by commenters, emboldening them to post things that they would never say if we knew who they were.  There were venomous comments, replete with racism and anti-semitism.  In my mind’s eye, I saw bumper stickers on all their cars.   The bumper stickers have angry slogans on them. 

I’m a pretty social fellow, and know my neighbors.  We’re friendly.  We talk.  We enjoy dinners together, as well as the occasional cocktail.  We talk some more.  Never in all these conversations did any of my neighbors express the thoughts that appear in these comments.  Here are the comments to Policing the Police.  Here are the comments to True Patriots Ask Questions.  Who are these people?

It is clear that these Newsday forums have become a clearinghouse for the worst of Long Island, where anonymous posters can express their deepest hatred and prejudice toward others.  It is clear that these are mostly uneducated people.  It is clear, at least in the comments to the police editorial, that many of the most offensive comments come from police officers, providing us insight to their true thoughts.  They truly do believe that they are a completely insular group, defensive of their foibles and antagonistic to everyone outside their sphere.

I am deeply disturbed to learn that these are my neighbors.  I like my neighbors, but I don’t like these people.  I am shocked to learn how they really feel.  I am saddened to think that this could be the person next door, to whom I wave good morning and share a barbecued burger. 

I get some strange and stupid comments here from time to time, but they aren’t even close to the types of comments left at Newsday in terms of hatred and offensiveness.  When someone leaves an offensive comment here, I remove it.  I subscribe to the “broken windows” theory, that offensive comments will breed even more offensive comments.  It’s not my purpose to become a warehouse for prejudice, hatred and stupidity. 

This is not about comments from people with whom I agree or disagree.  Intelligent argument makes for better decisions.  But this was a slew of attacks, with no cognizable thought involved.  I knew there were a lot of angry people around, but never before was I so painfully clear on who they blamed for their misery.

In reading the Newsday comments, I wondered why any intelligent person would want to express an opinion there, only to be subjected to being slammed by the ignorant.  When this is allowed, it becomes a magnet for the angry, an outlet for hatred and resource for the stupid who want to know that they are not alone in their stupidity.  Just like misery, stupid loves company.

Now that I’ve had the pleasure of following the comments on these two editorials, I can’t think of any reason to venture back for more.  There was not a single comment that was illuminating or thought-provoking, other than the thought that these were horrible comments.  These are definitely not the same people as read the New York Times.

Newsday is sending a message, at least to me, by way of these comments.  It is telling me that they are the newspaper of the angry, the prejudiced, the ignorant.  They could oversee and control their comment section to rid themselves of this crowd, and promote a far higher level of discussion to show that there is a place where thoughtful and concerned people can share ideas and challenge each other’s notions of right and wrong.  They could, but they don’t.

Perhaps this is some misguided devotion to free speech, where someone believes that it would be wrong to censor the voices of their readers, no matter what those voices are saying.  But this failure to prevent their comments from spiraling out of control disenfranchises more thoughtful voices, who are left with no place but the gutter should they desire to speak.  Limiting commentary to respectful expressions is not censorship, but an expansion of freedom.  The screaming of the mob will always drown out the softer voices. 

Or maybe Newsday knows something that I don’t; that these are my real neighbors, without the friendly faces they wear when the wave back at me, and that it doesn’t get any better than this.  If so, it’s time to move.