Let’s flood the internet with kindness

So although I am not a new year’s resolution kinda girl … I did try and make an effort not to post anything negative on the internet and to try and combat all the unkindness with a little kindness.  At the end of the day whenever I posted something mean, I would feel clever and justified for about 5 minutes and then I would feel bad and often took it down.  I am pleased to say that now if I see something that riles me up on line I just keep scrolling or try and combat it with a post of kindness to the person receiving the abuse.

One of the best stories about social media kindness involves comedian Patton Oswalt.  Patton is one of the most vocal celebrities on Twitter, and he’s also one of the nicest.  One of his political tweets didn’t go down well with a follower who fired off a bunch of personal insults at Patton.  Instead of firing back at the man , Oswalt did something surprising by checking out his Twitter page, where the comedian discovered this gentleman had been suffering from medical issues and had been struggling to pay his expenses. Oswalt decided to make a donation on the man’s crowdfunding page and encouraged his over four million followers on Twitter to donate as well.

Patton tweeted this to his followers…

Aw, man. This dude just attacked me on Twitter and I joked back but then I looked at his timeline and he’s in a LOT of trouble health-wise. I’d be pissed off too. He’s been dealt some sh*tty cards — let’s deal him some good ones. Click and donate — just like I’m about to.

The man tweeted back to the comedian ….

Patton. You have humbled me to the point where I can barely compose my words. You have caused me to take pause and reflect on how harmful words from my mouth could result in such an outpouring. Thank you for this and I will pass this on to my cousin who needs help. A cascade.

Over $35,000 was raised for this struggling man and for a brief moment twitter stopped yelling at each other and started reaching out and helping each other.