Cesspool duty

I've spent much of this week cleaning up the online forums at the newspaper, a task I've come to think of as lifeguard duty at the cesspool.

We had a few months where this duty slipped through the cracks and the forums reverted back to a Hobbesian state of nature. It's still pretty ugly in there, but before this week it was really, really ugly.

Got an infestation of Angry White Guys with unlimited free time who managed to bully away most everyone else and turn the thing into a Know Nothing rally conducted by the AA farm team for Little Green Footballs. Some very vile stuff in there — with one major theme being that integration/affirmative action is leading to the decline of America because black people are to blame for everything from crime and drugs to the alleged decline of the public schools.

Ugly and stupid and loud. It's been a soul-sickening week of lifeguard duty.

Feh. I need a shower.