amh1988 | Love So Sweet? (Reply)

Today I received an email that was all kinds of unpleasant. I don't consider myself an unkind person, and I try to be nice to everyone I meet online. However, if someone felt I'd given them cause to be mean, I would apologise and make every effort to set things right. I would not be upset if someone I knew and had contact with did not like me; everyone is entitled to their opinions and preferences.

If a complete stranger, however, judges me harshly over a completely ingenuous post I made a while ago, how am I supposed to react?

Back when I was brand new to LiveJournal and J-Drama's I downloaded and watched Stand-Up from the J-Drama community. I really enjoyed the drama, and left a comment of thanks to the uploader that read like this:

"Thank you for posting this drama, it was a lot of fun to watch and Kazunari seems like a really good actor."

Keep in mind that this was before I even knew JE existed. It was only the second series that I'd watched and the first had contained no JE boys at all.

This morning I received an email reply to that comment which, to put it bluntly, really pissed me off. I won't quote the whole thing, or name any names, but here is a excerpt:
(slightly edited for swear words, but I left in spelling and grammar mistakes purely because they amuse me.)

"Nino is a sycotic loser. _______ is a much batter acter and singer and hes waay hotter. Nino has funny teeth and eyes and his noise is too big."

I'm leaving the rest out because it gets worse and with the sender dropping the names of drama's his/her favourite person has been in all over the place, it would be easy to figure out.

After the initial dumbfounded shock, followed by laughing over poor English skills, it made me wonder: If I had gotten this message earlier, I probably would have been scared right out of J-Dramas. I never would have come to know Arashi and I never would have made the friends that I have.
I'm not saying the fans of other groups are better or worse than the fans of Arashi. This was just one stupid email from one stupid person. Besides, I do happen to like the person they were referring to. (Although, probably a little less now because every time I see them I will be reminded of this email.)
I may only really follow Arashi, but I have nothing against other groups, and I certainly don't hate them. Maybe we all can't 'just get along' but lets at least be civil.

Okay, my rant is over, the email has been deleted and I am calm again. Now to watch a classic episode of D no Arashi to cheer myself up.