--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb wrote: > Are Internet Trolls the Modern Incarnation of Witch Hunters? > > > In the age of the Internet troll, there's an unfortunately predictable > cycle for what happens to women who talk about feminist issues online: > They get barraged with rape threats. Yes, but they are not credible rape threats! If a poster on FFL said he was coming round to your house at 9pm tomorrow to kick the shit out of you, would you go to the police? Trolls tell feminists they intend to rape them because they know that's what pisses off a feminist most of all. To blacks, trolls would post that nig-nogs should be shipped back to Africa; to men, trolls would accuse them of being sissy-boy faggots. Trolls know what buttons to press to get the reaction they seek. To make a stink about it is to fall into their trap.
> > A "countercampaign of online harassment" lobbed at "several high profile > women" who advocated for Jane Austen and other historical female > figures on British bank notes. What could be more innocuous than having Jane Austen on a bank note? Bizarre what people get upset about. > ." > So, if we use that as a metric of progress, things have certainly improved for the > feminist. Hateful tweets are certainly preferable to death. Yay? > Hateful tweets are certainly preferable to death. The trouble with the recent brouhaha over tweets and trolls is that it only encourages the police to start monitoring what we're all saying online. The internet has meant that for the first time in history the underdogs, outcasts and all those isolated from the seats of power have finally got an opportunity to tell it like it is from their point of view. Politicians would love to take back their monopoly on public discourse so let's not encourage the buggers by letting them pose as moral crusaders.
