Irritated

So I got really irritated today and it was beneath me.

I love me some celebrity gossip, and the site I check for my Hollywood trash had an article about Angelina Jolie from some tabloid or other which claims she used to be a vegan and that it "almost killed her."  I don't know about all that.  I doubt Ms. Jolie was ever vegan because I've never heard any such thing...and I follow celeb gossip...so, yeah.  I think it's a crap story.

But that wasn't what irritated me.

The comments left on this article just really crawled under my fingernails today.  I know we're not supposed to listen to the garbage, and I know it's pointless and soul-sucking to dignify the garbage with a response.  Pearls before swine, and all that.  I know.

But I couldn't help myself.

The comments ranged from "Veganism and anorexia go hand-in-hand," to "You know those people don't eat cheese, right?" There was a series of taunting and name-calling, too, where people talked about how much meat they eat on purpose to antagonize anyone vegetarian who might see the message.  Just...juvenile crap.  I normally ignore it.  This time, I bit.  It was stupid.  I learned long ago that you don't teach a hostile audience anything in a setting like that.  They all hate me on that site, anyway, because I'm politically conservative, don't wish fiery death on Sarah Palin and all her progeny for 6 generations, and don't herald sexual promiscuity as a sign of feminine virtue and independence.

Sigh.

So that just made it worse.  Because the vegan message came from ME, someone who voted Republican a few times and suggested that maybe Halle Berry should parent her child instead of auditioning a new stud every week...they'll reject it even harder.

And you know the worst part?  There was a woman on there later in the list with a niece who went vegan to copy some celebrity band she likes, and she kind of thrust it on her family without any warning or thought.  The girl is basically starving herself because she doesn't know how to feed herself as a vegan, and I could've helped this family with some good advice.  But...I made myself look just as ignorant as the hecklers on that board, and so now there's a teen who won't stick with it (because she'll get hungry before any of those band members ask her out on a date)...and I could've, maybe, helped her, instead of mouthing off to an ignoramus on an internet comment list.

So, I'm irritated and deflated and feeling very, very foolish for biting the bait.  When will I ever learn?