Bully behavior on social media...

I waited to write about this since it occurred between flights as we were heading to see our daughter and son-in-law at their new house for the first time and our visit with them had my attention and not some pencil dick on the internet and I refused to allow a visit with my kids to be clouded by a pencil dick on the internet. ;)

So someone who followed me on a social media platform was a just a social media acquaintance. We commented back and forth on occasion and had a few conversations. The closer we got to US election news, his social media started to turn extremely anti-American and extremely bigoted. Now... I ignored those posts. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and we all get insulting from time to time when stating our own opinions, even if we don't see it ourselves. I never once barged onto any of his social media and said a single word. Then he would start to leave extremely insulting anti-American comments and memes on my posts, again, without any engagement from me so... I just ignored his bigotry.

We have some differing opinions and quite frankly, when it comes to US politics he, as a brit, needs to stay in his own lane when it comes to my personal social media since independent thought obviously confuses him. I would never consider barging onto his social media and giving him my opinion of brexit or the UK's lack of free speech, etc. That all said, there has to be something seriously mentally wrong with someone who gets so upset at a news article that he lashes out and verbally attacks someone on social media simply because they are American.

We get off our first flight and while waiting for our connecting flight I hop on social media for a bit. We hadn't conversed in a while so it was a surprise to see a notification. He literally linked to an article... something I also disagreed with by the way... and said "I blame you...." and then proceeded to verbally attack me because I'm an American. (I never saw the article in any US publication)

So this out of the blue attack, as I'm on vacation, felt like a sucker punch out of left field. I had done nothing to deserve neither it nor his ***dragging his friends along to also bully me*** (asshole) ... and considering the fact that he deleted the attack within hours, I can only assume he wasn't actually all that proud of his bullying behavior. When I called him out on the attack he claimed he felt the need to "take action". I pointed out that his "action" was to personally attack me, randomly out of the blue, undeservedly and I truly hoped he felt better. (sarcasm, obviously) He responded that it was "worth it" if it pushed *me* to take action that *he* demanded. Apparently, instead of using his words in a meaningful way to make a real difference (like a rational adult which he is not based on his childish behavior), it made him feel better to bully me about something I knew nothing about with a verbal attack out of the blue.

I hate bullies.

I informed him he had no right to come at me... and again, keep in mind we had not conversed in a long while... over something that I not only had nothing to do with but wouldn't have supported either, and I was not his verbal punching bag for his hatred of Americans or our current politics. I told him to piss off and then I unfollowed him. I really don't know what he expected to come of his attack but he left one more personal insult and then deleted that. He's now blocked across all social media, even social media I'm not active on. Did he really think that tactic would have started an engaging debate of the subject? I don’t respond to small minded behavior like that. Considering his bully behavior that still continues towards others on social media, I'm surprised his employer allows his online bullying since his social media is closely linked with them. I do hope he grows up one day. He might do well to realize that if he in unable to accept an opinion different than his and he bullies people based on that…. he’s exhibiting fascist behavior.

~ "If you're insulting people on the Internet, you must be ugly on the inside."