When I graduated from the University of Montana with a Masters degree in Communication Studies, I found myself instilled with strong feelings about issues related to the concept of dignity. My thesis was on workplace bullying. I almost didn't survive reading Twitter/X posts through this past LONG election cycle because my brain wanted to explode from all the disgusting and derogatory comments I was finding there, and on both ends of the political spectrum.
Trolls are internet bullies. Elon Musk has actually begun to sic his X trolls now on people in what he considers superfluous government departments. I guess he's hoping those federal employees will feel so utterly intimidated and humiliated that they'll quit, saving him the trouble of having to fire them.
How sick is that? And this is the person who will give President Trump's cabinet his recommendations on how to reduce government waste. I couldn't begin to fathom why Elon and his trolls are the way they are, why they treat others so cruelly, why they feel so disposed to destroy others. It isn't human.
It's probably inconceivable to expect everyone to read and comprehend the works of Immanuel Kant, but it is something we need to do in this day and age. We are losing our sense of humanity in the phenomenon of socio-political divisiveness shaping our interactions anymore. We are losing sight of something more profound than our puny personal perspectives.
We are forgetting that we all have innate dignity--value, worth, rights--that overshadow our attitudes, opinions and behaviors. Attitudes, opinions and behaviors change for good or ill with the price of eggs. Dignity never changes. It is universal and it is constant. Despite our attitudes, opinions and behaviors.
Trolls can erode our dignity if we allow them to. If we pay attention to and accept their acrimony, our self-worth deteriorates little by little until we feel worthless, useless. We must keep ever in our conscious awareness that we are more than what they accuse us of being. I'd hate to reside in the mind of one of Elon's trolls for even a fraction of a second. I imagine it to be chaotic, incoherent, even terrified. Yes, terrified of and by its own existence. Clearly nothing of merit for us to feel threatened by.
Pity the trolls while pampering your dignity. And, for God's sake, get off X and read Kant. You're worth it.
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