THERE IS NOTHING MORE FRIGHTFUL THAN IGNORANCE IN ACTION

Goethe wrote: "There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action."

A daughter of a friend of mine told me that she was booted off a Facebook chat site because she'd posted too many pictures of her beloved animals. She started her own site and she asked me to join, which I did. She now has more than 2,000 members.

When I saw her recently she asked why I hadn't posted anything, and I answered that I hadn't really looked at it after becoming a member.

That afternoon, I looked at the site, and when a person wondered why New York City and other cities could have community gardens, and we don't, I was able to post pertinent information about the defunct local Common Grounds Community Gardens and how it could be resurrected. There were good back-and-forth postings to which I was able to participate. Later I was able to supply information about another topic and provide a resource.

When another thread contained false information about a person whom I know, I didn't hesitate to correct it. A barrage of attacks on me followed. Within a couple of hours, after my correcting the lies, my in-box had more than 100 replies. For a day, I answered all of the ignorant, insulting, nonsensical ad hominem remarks, but I knew from past experience there is no way to communicate with misinformed people who cannot--either read--or comprehend, the English language. In answering, I needed to keep referring back to what I had ACTUALLY written, rather than to what their pre-conceived notions were! One reprehensible woman, who claims to be a nurse, wrote, "Sue you must be on CRACK!"

This foray into a "chat-room" culminated with the Editor of the local newspaper calling me because one of the participants had called him and falsely claimed that I had named him in my postings.

No good deed goes unpunished. I just wanted to share knowledge, resources, and information. I already knew that there are a great number of benighted people in my county and I was never foolish enough to think that I could change people, but it was truly disheartening that my friend's daughter, the Administrator of the site, allows people to post lies and misinformation.

I am no longer a member of the site.