What's wrong with these people?

I saw a picture of a Giants fan using what looked like a road construction sign to break the windows of a bus in San Francisco after his team’s World Series victory. It would never occur to me to do that after a championship win. Granted, I don’t have much experience with winning Philadelphia teams but during the one win of my adult life, I just screamed and jumped around. There was no vandalism. I was home and sober so I can’t say I had any drunken mob mentality influencing me, but still.

So I wonder what’s wrong with these people. Why does something wonderful = destruction of property? Why act like an ass? Why not just savor the victory and if you go a little crazy, do something harmless like taking your shirt off and running around in the street?

It’s not like something horrific happened and people are rioting to vent their frustration. Their team won the World Series. They did not lose. Hell, even through the approximately 3,500 losing championship games I’ve sat through, I’ve never had any inclination to carry on like an asshole and destroy something. I just kind of sighed and went to bed after it was over.

And what is wrong with the dimwitted, knuckle-dragging mouth-breathers who comment on so many online articles and videos? I read about a woman who posted a video about her experience with sexual harassment with the skeptics group to which she belonged. People ended up calling her a slut and hoping she got raped. What is the problem with these horrible people? Where does it come from when you hope for someone else’s sexual assault? Who are these trolls?

Mary Elizabeth Williams of Salon was also talking about how she never reads the comments on her columns because they are so nasty and I can't blame her.I can't stand Williams' writing most of the time since she takes an obvious stance toward a common tragedy and then makes a hacky, melodramatic point about it. (After the Dark Knight Rises shooting, she wrote "We long for togetherness at the movies. After the Aurora shooting, the theater experience will never be the same," which I thought was over-reactive bullshit even during the initial shock of the shooting.) Still, I don't agree with her but I have never thought of posting some horrifying comment on her articles.

I never post nasty comments online. There were only two times I posted something disagreeable: When Garrison Keillor write something condescending about the gays and when an advice columnist advised someone that she had no obligation to visit her friend in the hospital after the friend got drunk and assaulted. In both cases, they just wrote something that got under my skin. I don't remember what I told these people in my comments but I'm pretty sure I didn't wish disease or rape on them.

What on earth is wrong with the people who are tweeting things like, "I'm not a racist but let's put the white back in White House"? There's no other way to interpret that statement than as racist. You're not saying you support a candidate, party or ideology. You're saying you support a skin color; that the skin color is your primary qualification for president. 

Wait ... you say you're not racist. I stand corrected. 

You can't preface a statement by saying "I'm not racist but" because that "but" usually undermines the first part of your sentence. People can't declare themselves to be with or without prejudice. That's something outsiders have to determine by looking at these people's behavior. Nobody is going to admit being racist. By the way, I'm not a misogynist but let's put all women back in the kitchen.