what to do with negativity on the internet?

Last week I came across a YouTube video by PsychoSoprano, the account of Colleen Ballinger. She has nearly 3 million subscribers and the views on her videos easily reach a million, so you could say that she is doing well. But amidst all the praise, there are also quite a few negative stories, and she decided to turn all those ugly comments into a song.

That you can see here, and the result is actually quite funny and nice. But it is, of course, totally ridiculous that she even had to make such a video. People tend to forget on the internet that the hate they spew about someone can actually be read by the person addressed. They forget that it is very hurtful and painful to hear shit about something you work hard for. Just this morning I saw a photo of Kristina Bazan, who had removed a previously posted photo after a stream of negative comments, read her commentary here.

And we are not spared either. I have the naivety to think that most people who follow Amayzine genuinely like the site, but unfortunately, that is not entirely the case. For many, we are a ‘guilty pleasure,’ a kind of bad snack that you shouldn't really be eating but secretly indulge in when no one is watching. A columnist whom I will not name because I don't want to give her more attention than she has already received, wrote a devastating piece about Amayzine in general and Jet and me in particular on a popular site a week or so ago. We would be “narcissistic airheads,” there is “no lower limit to our stupidity,” we have “the depth of a birdbath” and possess “the intellectual capabilities of a water flea.” Furthermore, about Amayzine, “no one is so empty and stupid, it is a brilliant parody!” Then follows a personal attack on Jet, I am labeled as “TikBarbie” and our Bo also gets a few hits to the head.

That someone then dismisses our entire existence as dumb and superficial is downright hurtful.

I can tell you, that is not fun. It can be quite scary to work for a site like Amayzine, where all pieces are personal and signed with name, surname, and photo, where we are so visible and sometimes feel like we are standing naked on the internet. We are not anonymous editors, we are real people who write the pieces you read every day with a lot of love and pleasure. Pieces that sometimes really come from our hearts (like this one) and are then read by thousands of people, hoping that they also benefit from it. That someone then dismisses our entire existence as dumb and superficial is downright hurtful.

The question is, what do you do about it? “You have to rise above it,” said May, wise as she is. And that is true, but it is easier said than done. Here at the editorial we talked about it for a moment and then moved on to the order of the day, but I will tell you that I did shed a tear about it that same evening. Okay, I had a drink and that always stirs up emotions, but still.

Look, we know very well that we are not writing world-improving pieces here, that we are not contributing to political debates and not answering Significant Issues, but we never pretend to do so. Does everything in life always have to be heavy and important? Do we always have to deal with profound philosophical issues? What is wrong with some light-hearted entertainment now and then? Why are we immediately considered stupid good-for-nothings without any talent? Moreover, you don't have to read us. If you feel more at home with De Correspondent or the Volkskrant, then stay there happily! Amayzine is a successful company that has gone from nothing to something in a year and a half, and I cannot understand that even if the content does not appeal to you, you cannot at least see that something is being created that many other people do benefit from.

Look, we know very well that we are not writing world-improving pieces here

I once read on another site about myself that I came across as “that type who just breezes through life.” About that, I can only think; I know better. Why that other column affects me so much, I don't know, but I just tell myself that the writer is a somewhat frustrated type who desperately needs to hate everything that is not exactly the same as what she does.

What it has taught me in any case is that I do not wish to feel guilty about that kind of behavior. This weekend I wanted to open the doors of my Curiosities Cabinet once again for someone, but I decided not to do that. Anyway, the Cabinet has been closed for a while because it didn't feel right to write negatively about others, even if it was sarcastic and quite funny (I thought) in essence. If I don't like reading nasty things about myself, then neither does someone else. And look, that nasty unkind column has at least produced something good.