Haters and Critics

I need to get this off my chest: I hate the word "hater." I hate how it's become a catchall for any sort of criticism. I hate hater.

Hate. Hate. Hate.

Unfortunately, the sad reality of being a woman on the internet means usually means someone will find fault with your words, your body, your brain, your using "you're" when you should have used "your," or your existence alone. I think of all these things every time my fingers hit the keyboard.

Reading this post  on xojane about one blogger befriending her "hater," I'm glad I don't have the kind of online presence that warrants much overt nastiness.  But as someone who has spent a good chunk of her adult years online in some fashion, I have had "nemeses," although I've never been in the position to befriend one. Relationships that exist exclusively online are weird, one-dimensional, and wholly dependent on textual clues. The lasting connection is a rare one.