A Most Civilizing Influence...or Taming the Trolls

I notice a marked difference between handwritten interactions and interactions that take place online. I am not in the singular position of having a considerate and gentle readership for the Pen & Ink neighborhood of the internet tends toward pleasantness, but I notice that in other places it seems that everyone wants to be a troll. It is all too easy to be rude and unpleasant when one is cloaked in anonymity or personhood is abstracted by profile pictures and brief interest statements. One need look no further than Facebook or Twitter to find supporting evidence of this. Were an alien to observe humanity solely through the internet said alien might conclude that brutishness were a virtue in our society. 

Were every conversation to take place face to face or with pen and ink the trolls might be tamed and society might take a step toward becoming civil. Who knows, such a step might even lead to the recovery of road etiquette, an art lost in California at least. The consequences could be positively radical so do your part today and write a letter.