Whyiyiyiyiyiy?!

I accidentally read the comments on a news article about schools in the Eastern Cape. Rookie error, I know. I blame it on the layout of the website that confused me into the thinking that the first (really long) comment was still part of the article. Once you've entered the murky pit of the comments section, it's so difficult to crawl back out; it happens everytime. Every sentence just reels you further in with its almost always discriminatory ranting. I stare transfixed at my screen, certain that hells, the commentator must be making jokes. Surely they're being sarcastic, no?

There's the pseudo-racism, the paternalistic-sexism, the 'I'm trying to be liberal but really these gays are too much', and then there's the rampant, radical, 'I'm not ashamed of my bigotry' self-righteous vitriol. I'm not sure which class of comment leaves me most wanting to vomit. My room-mate's most usable piece of life advice is to stay the hell away from the comments section. Man, we even chatted about this last night dammit! Like leper colonies in ye yonder olde times, the comments section must be kept far, far away if we are to survive. Although, unlike lepers, I don't think commentators will ever turn out to be harmless members of society...