Nothing against trolls – the fairy tale, Tolkien type trolls, that is. You know the type, big, strong, intellectually challenged, easily influenced. Big, shambling brutes that you sorta feel sorry for.
Then, though, there are internet trolls. These you sorta feel sorry for the way you felt for the Nazis in Inglorious Basterds. I had one a few weeks ago, he commented (don’t look for it, it’s long gone) on a picture of me testifying before the Connecticut Legislature about the mediation program.
He – I should point out he is not a follower of the blog or page, he just came out of the ether – made a comment I’ve heard a thousand times in a hundred different forms. This: “Why don’t your clients just pay their bills.”
So, I did a quick click over to the guy’s page, he’s a member of a quasi-official offshoot of the Republican party and an ardent follower of the guy who would make us all great again. The irony, of course, is drippingly clear, his icon of fiscal responsibility became rich by using the bankruptcy laws.
Be that as it may, I started thinking about a response to this type of self-righteous remark. I’m certain pointing out that my clients would pay if they could because no one likes being sued or foreclosed on would fall on closed ears. I also suspect that my previous posts about the reasons people miss payments, how everyday things like divorce, job loss, or illness effect the best intentioned ‘consumer,’ would be scoffed at even while I pointed out the inevitability of one of those things happening over the course of an average mortgage.
Nah, this guy has neither empathy nor a sense of history.
So, I’d tell him this – we should all care, deeply, because foreclosed on homes are blights 
in the neighborhood and anchors pulling down everyone’s home values. That’s it. Simple. Unless you are the only person in the country who believes that banks do a sparkling job of managing the homes they foreclose on, you want the people who love their homes to stay there.
That’s it. Foreclosures hurt the community in a host of ways. If you’re into draconian actions to punish delinquent homeowners because of … well, whatever your personal hobgoblins are … you would do well to remember that somewhere along the line, you’re harmed by every foreclosure that goes through in your community.
I’m sorry you had to deal with a troll. There really are too many of them on the web. They just want attention or are insecure about their own beliefs. In my opinion, this guy going out of his way to comment on your blog is just a confirmation of the latter. Insecurity manifests it’s evil head in many ways, and trying to bring other people down is one of them. When has hate ever helped someone?