How do you deal with with the *stupidity*? [View All]

[calmblueocean]

I was just reading this Wired story where the editor denies that their "Al Gore invented the internet" smear actually damaged Gore or the country. The story made me angry enough, but what drove me over the edge was reading all the wingnuts who responded in comments, attacking Gore, smearing him again and again in each post as only wingnuts do, with that insane mix of sarcasm, arrogance, ignorance, insults and flat-out bone-crushing stupidity.

Sometimes I see threads like these and I nearly lose all faith in humanity. How can so many people be so dumb and so mean at the same time? It's like there's an army of them, inpenetrable to truth, or kindness, or rational argument. Letting their lies stand without rebuttal is awful, but you can't fight them because they're really more like automatons than human beings. They just barf up their hate and get it all over you. No words you write connect with any thinking part of them.

How do you deal with that feeling of futility you get sometimes from seeing how stupid and mean these people are?