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Suggested Revision To The Serenity Prayer, Plus Non-Spiritually Oriented Alternatives. [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-01-31
This is in heartfelt response to SepiaSiren’s diary, in which she expresses consternation that while she is soldiering on with her podcasts despite various vicissitudes, people are picking at her over trivia that is truly unworthy of her time. AND theirs, if they are commenting in good faith.
You may read it here: www.dailykos.com/…
Please do, and give her some tips and recs.
Do not be fooled by the fact that I went and got some vocabulary out. My sympathies are entirely and massively with SepiaSiren; when I trot out my vocabulary it is usually because I am seriously pissed. On her behalf, in this instance.
While reading I thought about the tendency people have to feed, nurture, and encourage trolls online when they actually, seriously think they’re standing up to them.
No no, nay nay, nix nix; trolls exist for one thing primarily: to suck up your time and energy. When you engage with them, at all, they win.
And then I thought, well, we could use a little reminder mnemonic to help us stop doing that, maybe.
So here’s my contribution to that effort. I am a liberal Catholic, and have had friends, colleagues, and family members in the recovery community too. So this is modeled on the Serenity Prayer, which I observed saving lives in my 30s and 40s. This version won’t save lives, but it could save a lot of people a lot of frustration.
The Original:
God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.
Suggested Anti-Trolling Version:
God grant me the acuity
To reject the trolls I cannot change
And the self control to ignore those I think I can,
So they stop sabotaging comments,
Disrupting and derailing
Meaningful discussions on this site;
And grant me the persistence to stick with it
Until it makes a difference.
For those who find the reference to “God” disconcerting or an affront to personal nonbelief, I get it; here are two de-spiritualized versions; feel free to propose others of your own devising. If I perceive them to be tendered in good faith, I’ll add them to this diary, either copied in or as links to your comments.
Important note: As with the one above, these are not meant to be posted. That merely extends trolls an invitation to business as usual. The proper response to almost all trolls is DEAFENING SILENCE*. But they can’t read your minds, and you can repeat these little mantras as often as you need to, as long as you’re only repeating them to yourself.
Non-Spiritual Versions:
[1]
Troll bite, troll fight,
Every troll I see tonight:
I’m going to, with all my might,
Ignore you till you’re out of sight.
[2]
Trolls, trolls, go away,
This is not your place to play.
And I have not one word to say,
Since that is your excuse to stay.
Looking forward to any clever good faith offerings people can muster up.
And, SepiaSiren, hang in there. You have a cheering section.
[END]
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