For the transgression of disliking The Avengers, I recently found myself on the business end of several dozen hateful comments. Some were sent directly to my e-mail address, but most were left in the comments section of my online review, on proud display for the public like so much toilet paper on a front lawn. (I suspect they’ve polluted other virtual spaces as well, but there are better things I can do with my time than to look for them.) I have little intention of entering a dialogue with these commenters, for all their confrontational goading. If the rampant spelling and grammatical mistakes were any indication, most of them were motivated by impulsive anger rather than desire for genuine conversation—though, in their defense, I wasn’t too interested in entering a dialogue with The Avengers either. I guess that means we’re even now and we can all have dessert.