Warning!  This rant may include words that are not to everyone’s taste. Please exercise your discretion.

They seem to be everywhere! And they are doing their mining under the cloak of anonymity because of the Internet. Perhaps I should explain. There is, I hope, a small group of individuals who take a perverse delight in trolling through my idyllic childhood looking for something that offends them in the 21^st-century. I am not amused.

If something from my childhood offends someone 50 or 60 years later, I’m sorry about that. I’m sure if I went digging in your childhood, I could find something that offended me, if I was actually looking for it.  If a character is depicted in a less than flattering manner then perhaps the character can be changed to accommodate sensibilities decades after the fact. But here’s something I don’t understand: it was a different time. It was a lifetime ago. You do not know the mindset of the author and don’t pretend that you do. You can infer and make innuendos all you like but you weren’t there.  And to vilify a beloved author who got millions of children reading is just wrong.

Christmas carols have been torn apart and demonized. Beloved nonhuman characters have been crucified with innuendo. Where does it stop? I believe in freedom of speech but that freedom comes with responsibilities. If you feel strongly about something, then stand up, speak up and be identified.  Own your concerns. If you believe something needs to be corrected then correct it. Don’t spend your time spewing hatred on Social Media. That is not responsible.

When I hear about a new offence that has been perpetrated decades ago, I envision the anonymous speaker as someone sitting in his underwear, or her underwear, in Mama’s basement eating fast food and spending their days trolling. It is not a pretty sight.

Stop imitating a kumquat and join the human race. There are plenty of things in our history to be offended by and some of it goes back a lot further than 50 or 60 years. But you only seem to be concentrating on the recent past. Why? Was your childhood so damaged, so perverted that you are incapable of finding joy? So, you wish to bring everyone else down to your level of misery? If that is the case, then I don’t hate you.  I pity you.

There are plenty of things today that offend me: racism, bullying, ageism, inequality… The list is endless. Why don’t you get your facts straight and speak up about what is happening today to the people next-door, to the people around the corner and across the world. Wouldn’t your time be best spent in this decade?

Rant concluded. Thank you for your attention.