Keith Olbermann is us, and we should relax a bit more

I like Keith Olbermann.

I don't agree with all of his commentary on his 'Olbermann” ESPN program. But I don't want to agree all the time with anyone, because what am I going to learn from them (or, in rare and extreme cases, they from me)?

Olbermann doesn't sit on any fences, and calls out people and institutions that probably don't get called out often enough. In a sports media world too cluttered with unimportant yammer, someone who is willing to poke the bear is worthwhile. If it's done with intelligence and clarity and wit, it's a thousand times better. There are plenty of so-called truth-tellers who consider debate as a matter of who shouts the loudest.

But I don't get Olbermann some times. He got suspended by his employer for the rest of this week because of a series of tweets he made that were insulting to Penn State. Click here for a synopsis of that.

Tuesday afternoon, Olbermann tweeted this: I apologize for the PSU tweets. I was stupid and childish and way less mature than the students there who did such a great fundraising job.

There are people who never apologize. For anything.

The whole thing was just so needless. If you have a disgust for Penn Staters for still being rabidly devoted to Joe Paterno, that's certainly fair game. But insulting the value of a Penn State education ... strange. Not everyone connected to the school is or was a Paterno cult-follower, and it is quite a fine university.

Stranger to me - and often highly entertaining - is how Olbermann snaps back at the most-obscure Twitter users who criticize him. He'll repost their comments with an insult about their grammar, intellect, etc. He takes people from the shadows and makes their nonsense available to his half-million or so Twitter followers. Which leaves them open to receiving more insults.

It's petty, and you would think it would be easy for Olbermann to just let any and all insults from the masses tumble off his back. It's been said living well is the best revenge, and hosting your own show on ESPN and making what undoubtedly is a nice salary would qualify as living well.

But we're all humans, and not all of us are equipped to let perceived slights go without a fight. I'm not. Last Wednesday I tweeted something or another lauding Northern Iowa for its 58-39 win at Loyola. I expected a letdown from the Panthers after they didn't get home from a Sunday afternoon game at Missouri State until Monday afternoon and had to turn around and take a bus from Cedar Falls to Chicago. Yet, they played with their normal defensive intensity. So I praised them in a tweet.

A fan of another Iowa team replied by telling me told me Loyola, which had a 16-11 record, was 'really really really bad.” No, there were no commas, something Olbermann might have pointed out.

I responded, and he responded back, and it went back and forth for four or five rounds until I called it off because of fatigue. I shouldn't have responded at all.

A few days later, the same person tweeted me something. I saw the word 'Loyola,” and blocked him. I probably shouldn't have done that, either, but it was better than re-engaging in more nonsensical give-and-take.

From such small things and small-mindedness can sometimes come bigger trouble. You can't crush every voice of dissent or criticism. You can't enlighten the percentage of those out there who can't or won't meet your idea of enlightenment. Enjoy and respect the people who are civil and interesting and funny, even those who disagree with you. If they turn out to be louts, go ahead and use the blocking device, whether that's a click of a keyboard or walking away and laughing.

And know that according to this recent discussion on NPR, anger, hostility and aggression on Twitter is better able to predict patterns of heart disease than 10 other leading health indicators, including smoking, obesity and hypertension.

After I post this on Twitter and Facebook, I'm liable to get two or three people baiting me about it. Since I've never been able to follow my own advice, I'll probably come at you with the rage of an East Coast blizzard. Those, as cable networks will tell you, are the worst kind.

Comments: mike.hlas@thegazette.com.

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