Haters gonna hate

My detractors are trying to distract me – here’s my riposte!

They gnaw away at your weary soul, they chip away at your positivity, more than that they denigrate and dismiss your hard work, commitment and dedication; your ingenuity and innovations; your experience, credibility, well-proven track record and your critical successes.

I suppose I should expect them and be ready for them. Especially as they appear to come more frequently now and, sadly and perhaps somewhat alarmingly, grow more blatant, belligerent and downright bastardy.

I’m talking about snidey jibes, attempted straight-up take-downs, viciously sarcastic attacks – always delivered from behind the sanctuary of social-media curtains, secure in a comment box, administered from distant keyboards far out of the potential reach of any exasperation-evoked physical lash-out on my part – fortunately for the perpetrators sake.

I don’t really understand why I’m deemed a deserving recipient of such vile vitriol. I try to be polite, courteous, decent and friendly to everyone, especially those in my conceivable work arena. I’m a little old-fashioned like that.

Ask around by all means, but I’d like to think I’m not considered something of a mean dickhead, antagonistic and difficult to deal with, nor particularly feisty and destructively competitive. I know I’ve been accused by a rare few of arrogance and/or aloofness in the past, but that’s more my single-minded focus, social ineptitude and frequent memory fail when it comes to names, places and faces, not any actual malicious intent on my part.

So why the hate? Is it because I always put myself out there? Is it because of perceived success? Is it because I is black… well okay, brown?

Or could it be that my detractors find themselves lost in the spectacularly fast-changing media landscape, caught in the proverbial headlights of a mighty multi-media machine of immense magnitude bearing down on them without relent?

It may be that they are stood frozen, confused and confounded by this bold new world that doesn’t just threaten the traditional status quo but is already well on the way to superseding not only the past, but also the present as it even yet unfolds!

As with anything, when people don’t understand something and don’t have the emotional and intellectual wherewithal to even attempt to comprehend, never mind embrace it, their natural reaction is to attack the unfamiliar and the changing and, of course, its apparent proponents.

So if I’m not directly provoking the malice towards me, I can only conclude that I must be doing something right. Which in fact only serves to strengthen my resolve and determination.

I recognise also that by putting out these words I’m probably going against type and will provoke even stronger attacks in future (those that don’t really understand the game are the ones that eagerly cry foul most vocally).

But I’ve tried the whole rising-above-it-with-quiet-dignity thing and it’s not nearly as satisfying as sounding off like this.

As it is said: haters gonna hate. Tch.