Trolls and Chickens

My morning routine goes something like this: Get up, read the newspapers online and then, if it’s light out, feed the chickens.

I have five chickens, the legal limit in Columbia Falls proper. They do not have names. They are all Buff Orpingtons, a yellow, fat, breed that’s good for both laying eggs and eating.

I have no plans to eat my chickens. They lay too many eggs. They’re a little wild, which is to say you can’t pet them, which is a good thing, because they say petting chickens is a good way to get Salmonella.

They eat chicken feed, but their favorite food, by far, is white cooked rice.

Having chickens, or any animal for that matter, is a good thing, because it forces you out of bed. Too many of us spend far too much time not moving around.

In the winter the chickens pull double duty. They live in our greenhouse and fertilize the soil.

A heat lamp in their small coop keeps them warm and also keeps them laying eggs.

I don’t know if birds feel happiness, but the chickens seem to be happy.

After I feed the chickens I come back in the house and look over the newspaper’s Facebook page and other social media, like Twitter and Instagram. I can’t say I really like any of them.

Facebook is generally OK. But the other day, for example, I posted a picture of an unfortunate incident where an RV caught fire at a gas station. Not all the details were complete, but trolls immediately speculated it was a meth lab and the guy was smoking at the pump and last, but not least, he had fled the scene.

None of that was true. But that’s how fake news gets started from a real event. Thing is, the trolls don’t even care they’re trolling.

You can track them down with a couple of clicks and when you see them in real life, in person, they act as if what they said online really didn’t matter.

It’s completely and utterly disturbing and it is, by far, the worst part of this job.

Twitter is useful to get sports scores and Instagram is sorta fun because I follow National Geographic’s photos. But it’s not a great app. Who wants to look at great photos on a tiny screen?

Ugh.

I’m far more interested in the real world, where there are chickens to be fed, real stars to look at and real places to be seen and felt and yes, even smelled.

Sure, I may share some of these experiences on social media. But my greater hope is you get out there yourself. And if you do, please, please, shut off that phone for at least a little while, will you?

Chris Peterson is the editor of the Hungry Horse News.