I was in a conversation recently about reading sites we know are guaranteed to make us angry. I was reminded of this tonight, when for the second time in a row, I went to this weblog of a woman who could probably find a way to say “Good Morning” and be infuriating. At least to me.
We have nothing we agree on. We could never agree–the differences between us go to the very core of us. More than that, though, there is no open avenue to have any form of effective communication. The most I could ever get from reading her site is frustrated outrage and anger.
So why did I go back a second time?
Why do we continue to read people’s weblog if they make us angry? More, why do we read people we have no respect for? If you have no respect for me, why do you continue to read me? I always assume that the one thing those who read my site have in common is that you respect me, in some small way. You may not agree with me. You may disagree often. You may not like me. But there’s something besides loathing and anger. Or why read me?
Reminds me: We had a black cat that lived in the apartment a couple of doors down from us. It’s owners would let it out to walk around, and it would immediately head for our window. We would call out “Cat, Zoë!” and she would run to the window as fast as she could. She would start hissing and growling and puffing our her fur, and the black cat would hiss and growl and puff out his fur and then they would swat at each other in the window. Not many times, just a couple. Then the black cat would go away, Zoë straining as hard as she could to watch him go.
When his family moved away, she was depressed for weeks.
