Internet!

You know, Internet, I am trying to be understanding and patient....but why do people do this? Why? WHY? WHY???????

Comments

[Michelle]

You know, I've never sent her an email or anything before, but I felt compelled to. I am amazed at how people, who I'm sure don't know her from Eve, would tell her how to parent her own child. Ugh! Gawd does that burn me up!

[Charla]

I know how she feels, when we took my son's paci away I thought we were going to be run out of town by angry citizens (read: family members) sporting burning torches!

I can't believe some stranger, who feels like they "know" her just because they read her blog, would have the balls to tell her how to raise her own child. You've said it before, Melissa, people don't have to read her site...no one was smooshing anyone's face into the monitor saying "READ THIS, BITCH!" It's all just pathetic

[kalisah]

There is no understanding that sort of ignorance, so don't even bother trying to be patient with them.

[Renee]

I emailed her for the first time yesterday and told her to ignore the fuckers. Of course, I titled the email "You're a bad mom" as a joke and now I'm thinking she may never have opened it. :)

[Jennifer]

People have an inordinate amount of audacity and false bravado behind the cover of the world wide web. They're free to achieve a height of asshole-dom they could only dream of in real life.

Or maybe they're even worse in person.

Who knows. Some people just suck, then, don't they? And there's little we can do about it.

[jilbur]

How 'bout that: I also emailed Dooce a condolence letter on that topic. I made the subject line 'People suck; you, however, rock'--so it won't get deleted unread on the basis of a misunderstanding, at least.

The longer I parent, the more empathy I have for parents who make very different choices from mine.

[psquared]

Funny how people who don't have children are the first ones to pipe up when it comes to child rearing. I admire dooce for working for their combined familial sanity. Anyone who thinks anything different needs to chill.

thanks

psquared

[Kris]

Hehe. How funny, I'm visiting your site for the first time and I discover you're posting about a site I read daily. Cool :)

Anyway, yeah I totally agree. I'm not even a parent, but I know better than to scold someone else on parenting methods (unless their method means beating their children black and blue, only then would I interfere). Other than that, it's nobody else's business.

[Texas T-Bone]

It is pretty crazy how a pacifier can polarize people. You get three people in a room, and they all have different opinions. The thing is (and you know this one), every child is different, too. In the perspective of a person's life, using or not using a pacifier is like a speck of dust on an elephant.

I used to read Dooce often, but I found that many of her commenters (the sheer volume of them!) liked to pee on the parade. So I no longer read the comments.

==========================================
Ed Note: She had to disable comments because of all the peeing on the parade.

[alice]

Silly Melissa. People do that because they're all, like, crazy and shit. Obviously!

[andrea]

It's no surprise, really. The internet is just a reflection of Real People. Except that it is also a great equalizer, and it's pretty much anonymous. But just like in real life... you will meet up with some idiots, a few perverts and weirdos, and a hopefully, a few interesting folks who make visiting worthwhile.

[Lori]

It's amazing how everyone tries to tell you how to be a "good parent" -- no matter what you do, you are damned. I am damned because I let my baby such her thumb (which I am told she will now do FOREVER) instead of a pacifier, because I am now feeding her FORMULA, because I pick her up when she cries -- there's no winning when you are raising a child. You just have to make the decisions that you feel are best and try to ignore what everyone says.

[Lil' Sis]

Although I would never EVER claim to have any parenting tips (I've heard enough from all of you on how a single, baby-free chick like me would be lynched for trying...) I can say that it might be better to remove the binky early. Nobody ever took my baby blankey away. I am 27 years old and it has moved in with me to the homes of various boyfriends. I still take it with me on trips, even. It's been too long now. I'll be buried with the remaining scraps of the damn thing.

miao.

[Jay]

"Nobody ever took my baby blankey away."

They never took mine away either. Now I insist it's an all-purpose blanket. I think I've got most everyone fooled. But maybe not.

[Flikka]

LOL... I keep telling all my friends to ask me anything they need to know about raising their kids while I still don't have one - and therefore have all the answers!! *grin*

At the end of the day you can't win with this one - my sister was absolutely crucified for giving my neice a pacifier at all (apparently they are "unnatural", "unnecessary" and "will give her buck teeth as an adult" - WTF!!) - and here's poor Dooce getting a killing for the opposite stance. Sheesh!!

[Anne-Marie]

The only thing worse than the pacifier debate is the breast vs. bottle one. Want to get a lot of nasty emails, try that subject.

It always amazes me how emotional people can get about these types of parenting subjects.