When the Forty-niners lost the NFC championship game recently, the player targeted as the scapegoat for the loss was a second string kick returner named Kyle Williams, who received Twitter death threats and several unhealthy and physically impossible suggestions. Sports Illustrated ran some of the more heinous postings and chose to identify the online source of the comments. I found that to be a refreshing and welcome precedent.

Many years ago, I watched, up close and personal, as the younger sister of a friend slipped slowly into madness. All the siblings suffered from their parents’ rocky relationship and some sort of insanity gene that permeated the entire bloodline, and made poor life choices, but I took a shine to Linda and her demise saddened me. She never overcame the brain’s tendency to be wrong about most everything she encountered. Linda lived in institutions or despair for nearly all of her relatively short life.

A week before she was initially committed, she began to pay close attention to a local talk radio show. A lot of the same stuff we hear today was consumed by an audience of people eager for some reinforcement of their paranoia. Many would return the favor by sharing their own version of life with other listeners. The whole thing was an exercise in community craziness. Everyone sank to further extremes together.

I told several friends back then that talk radio should have built in controls. Maybe a complicated dialing system so the idiots were unable to share their lunacy on the nation’s airways. No one wanted to hear the ravings of fanatics and imbeciles. As usual, my ability to perceive and predict proved to be way off.

Now talk radio performers make millions each year and write several best sellers at once. The audiences have grown to staggering levels, and it is even easier to voice one’s opinion. You can anonymously type your worldview from your mother’s basement, hit send, and millions read your words instantly. Those inclined can then offer a reply just as incoherent as yours while you both look under the bed for the forces that are slowly stealing your life‘s essence.

Shows featuring sports and political conversation now aggressively solicit responses from these losers. Every talk show, local newscast, and big event features Twitter, Facebook, and email accounts, and personable hosts begging us to “let them know what we think.” Even the Weather Channel has a social segment, dutifully listing the day’s trending topics and airing the least inane observances. How many ways can one comment on how hot it is today? Evidently many.

I hope the Sports Illustrated example will catch on. I encourage experts to share knowledge with me about certain topics but have no interest in the opinion of some doofus who lives in a fantasy world, and owning a computer is his only major accomplishment.

We should require biographies for anyone who offers public comments on any subject, including how they came to their brilliant conclusion. The bio can list any qualities they might have that would make us respect their opinion.

The most ridiculous get their home addresses publicized and will be highlighted on Google Earth.