Looks all right

I think the worst thing about social media is how it allows people to be "keyboard warriors" - talking badly to each other under the cloak of anonymity or, at least, distance.

I mean, it's very easy to call someone a name if you see that they live in Hong Kong or Baluchistan or Nome.  People don't threaten others with physical violence if the other person is a) standing right behind them in line at the Try 'N' Save  and b) 6' 7" tall and massive.

But take the case of Melissa Blake.  She's a journalist who recently wrote an essay for a national news site, and the result was a lot of comments from ninnyhammers who said she is "too ugly" to post selfies.

Of course, the obvious things is that, "The comments had nothing to do with the content of my work; they were just insulting my looks," Blake says.

Ms Blake has had 26 surgeries in life to deal with the genetic condition known as Freeman-Sheldon syndrome, a neuromusculoskeletal disorder.

This is not the first time for this boneheaded unkindness. "Usually the comments roll off my back," she told Good Morning America. "But it was really hurtful."

But did you ever notice that a person with a great deal of self-awareness knows how to deal with jabs and jibes?  Ms Blake said, ok, you don't like my selfie? Here are three more for you!

"I'm just defiant enough to do the opposite of what they want me to do," Blake told "GMA." "I thought, 'you will not get the best of me."'

What a way to deal!

And one reward for Blake, who writes about pop culture, relationships and such in the New York Times, Cosmopolitan, and CNN, as well as her blog, was finding 2000 new Twitter followers overnight. "I thought it was a glitch," she said.

No glitch. The three selfies on Instagram have been liked over 300,000 times.

"I have heard from so many people, in all different countries, they're so glad to see something positive on social media for once," she told the morning show.

She encourages others to put up their best with the hashtag #Mybestselfie" and include something they like about themselves.

Ms Blake says her message for young people (and for everyone who hasn't learned this, no matter their age) is not to care so much about what other people think.

The current iteration of this is, "What other people think of me is none of my business," and that is true. People who are hung up on looks suddenly don't care so much when they need cardiac surgery or a transmission repair or a dishwasher repaired. You don't care so much how your surgeon, mechanic, or installation guy looks, do you?

Moreover, if the mechanic is the best looking person in the world, and you get two blocks away before your transmission falls out again, then you learn the lesson!

Don't let it be about looks. That doesn't look good on anyone.