" 
 :Yeah they do, but you might consider not letting others opinion of you matter as much. I know it's easier said than done, but once it occurred to me that their ""slings and arrows"" proved two things, I found it easier. 1) They want you to feel bad 2) They have no counter for whatever point you're making, which is why they resort to labels/insults/etc. Handling point one; Why should you feel bad just because someone you'll never meet wants you to? Point two means that as long as you're able to maintain a cool head, and keep on subject, you have a real chance disproving their argument. (People don't like to be proven ""wrong"", so the closer you get to doing that the more likely they are to become hostile.) The point is, you did a good job on the O'Reilly article, don't let somebody's idiocy keep you away from something you're interested in.  "