This week, TYT’s YouTube public chat was raided by what I consider to be a hate group. I will not give them the privilege of being named and, therefore, spreading their hate. I would, however, like to highlight how impressed I am with the way our TYT Moderators and Community handled the attack.

The downright mean, ignorant, hypocritical vitriol being spewed at progressives really hit home for our moderators. It would be understandable for them to respond in kind, but instead they stayed strong, leaning on our Core Values in order to lead by example.

They did not react. They did not retaliate. They reached out to our moderator team and asked for help. Some took a well-deserved mental health break from the chat. Some quickly and quietly worked to remove the trolls. Some added comments of their own, remaining supportive of our community and ignoring the trolls.

Non-moderators of our community patiently waited as we worked away. They showed grace and gratitude towards our moderators, also holding themselves back from reacting. I can’t tell you how much we appreciate your support.

As we all know, this requires a kind of strength and compassion that is found deep within. It requires acknowledging our fight or flight survival instincts. Stop. Reflect. Forward. We quickly determined the best course of action together, remaining true to our values of being the very change we wish to see in the world.

We did not give up. We did not back down. But, we also did not allow ourselves to become them.

It saddens me greatly to see so much hate and toxicity across the internet. I believe deeply that we all have far more in common than we are sometimes able to realize in moments of heated passion. I believe that many people who consider themselves conservative are victims of propaganda and the patriarchy that is the oppressive past (and present) of our nation.

I learned an old axiom somewhat recently that has stuck with me: hurt people hurt people. While this does not give people permission to project their pain onto others, it does help me to not take the jabs so personally. I know we can’t save everyone, but I do believe that we are capable of overcoming a lot with a little thing called love, mixed with a heavy dose of information, a splash of critical thinking, a heap of integrity, a spoonful of compassion, and a sprinkle of humility.

My heart goes out to all of you who are affected by the hate that you encounter online and otherwise. Please know that we are working hard to provide spaces for our TYT Community to connect where we can have meaningful discussions and know that we are not alone. It is no doubt an uphill battle, but it is a worthwhile one. It’s important to us that we can hear one another so that we can in fact accomplish our goals. This is best done by sticking to the facts, avoiding personal attacks, trusting that we have good intentions, and accepting one another’s experiences whether we understand them or not.

We will not agree on everything, and that is a good thing. Some of the many things I value about the progressive community are our diversity of thought, the way we embrace our differences, and our ability to open our minds to new information. I love learning from you, and I get so much satisfaction watching you learn from one another.

Let me know in the comments below -- What do you think? Agree? Disagree? Let's talk about it.