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December 4, 2011 at 2:14 pm 
Jen Twitter makes it easy for people to spread their bile. For example, here are some recent tweets I received from @whprax222:
Is it bad that I’m so used to the rape part of the threat that my first reaction is “Why Mexicans?”
But this individual wasn’t just targeting me. He aimed the majority of his tweets at female atheists, tweeting terrible things at Greta Christina, Jamila Bey, Maryam Namazie, Melody Hensley, Jafsica, Cristina Rad, Catherine Deveney, and Angie Jackson. He also targeted a couple other female writers, including Christie Wilcox. I have screen shots of all of the threats here, which are really worth a look to get the full extent of how gruesome they are.
Why am I writing about this? Because this isn’t a rare occurence. Outspoken women are frequently threatened with rape as a way of silencing them. But the way this individual responded once called out was also pretty telling of the mindset behind these attacks (screen cap):
“not a THREAT just a HOPE. i live nowhere near any of these people and they live all over the world. i dont have time or money to take an airplane to kill somebody! nor would i want to! just expressing my opinion, absolutely no threat intended”
Oh, well then. You just hope we’re raped and murdered, you’re too lazy to actually do it yourself. Definitely not a threat then!
“i am a gentle soul really :)”
“yep that is just my opinion. i would never rape a woman, that’s illegal!”
So you’d do it if it was legal? That certainly reassures me about your moral compass.
“i have no intention of harming ANYBODY! for all of u that are taking this seriously… grow up! its the internet!”
Ah yes, the “it’s the internet” excuse. Leave it to the person threatening women with rape and murder to tell us we need to grow up.
Before you tell anyone “it’s the internet,” remember what kind of individuals hide behind that excuse.
Posted in 
If he feels this way, why doesn’t he pray this to god so his god can do his whole wrath thing and punish all the “wimmin’ folk who don’t bow to biblegod?
Maybe he knows that bible god never shows up, so he has to do the insulting in person.. So sad.
I misread that. Now I have to think “BILE FOR THE BILE GOD!”
But you meant bible.
I love how people try to make themselves seem like they’re not amoral assholes by trying to get out of it on a technicality. “I’m not threatening you with rape, but I’d be happy if it happened.” Oh well you’re not a douche because technically you’re not threatening anyone. You’re just hoping terrible things happen to them. Well that’s alright then.
Assholes.
This is a good example of #mencallmethings. Also, these types of (poorly spelled!!!) threats are pathetic, but they’re still threats. You can’t make a threat and call it a joke. That’s not how it works.
I got your retweets of this and I was shocked. Even after reading the article about women bloggers and the horrible sexist harassment they face on a daily basis I was still shocked. I just cannot fathom the mentality of these kinds of people.
Actually, this reminds of the guy you wrote about a while back who lived in canada i think? (i could be crazy) who was making death threats to atheists. Is there any update about that or has he just fallen off the edge of the internet?
You’re thinking of Dennis Markuze. He was held for psychiatric treatment after his arrest and psychiatric evaluation. Actually, I think that he was supposed to have another review a couple of days ago. (He was found to be bi-polar with substance abuse problems.)
Markuze is unbalanced but even at his worst was nowhere near this vile (how I ended up on his target list I don’t know seeing as while I’m an atheist and skeptic I don’t blog on those topics)
Markuze was this vile. He sent people multiple posts threatening to torture them and their families to death. Not that I’m trying to minimise the awfulness of these tweets — I’d be delighted if the police turned up on whprax222′s doorstep to question him about his threats — but I don’t think Markuze is the right guy to use as a yardstick for “not-so-awful”.
I guess the fundamental benefit here is that while @whprax222 is essentially anonymous outside of Twitter, he is speaking in public with a recorded history that any Twitter user can read.
Public shaming of this embarrassment may not do much to him, but we can use his memory as a prism to rally back to about why the civilized part of Twitter should ostracize people such as this. Behold, @whprax222 the soon-to-be-forgotten icon of useless jerkbaggery, dime-a-dozen birdfeed twit.
Sure, we’re listening, but not for long. Got his moment in the sun—until his next sockpuppet account—but for now we’ll just bury him under the bridge with the other trolls.
whprax222 is clearly an account created to send out misogynistic hate anonymously. He is so cowardly that he cannot even give out his real name when threatening someone through the Internet. Wow.
Just to be clear, I think anonymity is important, but if you are threatening peaceful bloggers and you cannot even identify yourself, you have achieved a spinelessness at the level of a jellyfish.
I think you are doing jellyfish a grave injustice, here.
I agree completely.
That’s the problem. 12-year-olds aren’t allowed on Twitter, so if he outed himself, he’d have to give up his account (plus all the grownups would laugh at him).
Reminds me of this Oatmeal strip: “What it’s like to play online games as a grownup”.
I do not like the idea of a 12 year old talking to women like that.
How would they talk to their peers and classmates? If this was a 12 year old issuing rape ‘hopes’ against women, I would hope their parents and school would be contacted. That sort of behavior is threatening to adult women. I can’t imagine how it must be for young girls and boys still coming to grips with their sexuality and so easily affected by the thoughts and feelings of their peers.
Brilliant : ) we should program a spam filter that emails that comic to any misogynistic/bigoted comment/email.
Blag Hag is being persecuted my misogynists again?
Gutter: “Blag Hag is being persecuted my misogynists again?”
Well, it is a day that ends in ‘y’.
In a month with an ‘r’ in it.
Does this mean May, June, July, and August are misogyny-free months? ;-)
Sadly, no. Because all their days end in y.
could this be a trick to stir up bloggers like Jen to write about him, so people will look at his tweets, and find praxgirl? By a weird friend of praxgirl? If so, he succeeded: I found praxgirl on youtube.
Too meta to be true?
Great, another libertarian freakish thing. Sigh.
Maybe it was alien midgits!
Why do people like this idiot even do that? I mean, sure, I know people hate women, minorities, etc. But why spend so much time saying these things to women on twitter? What’s the point? I doubt this is going to make any of them shut up.
Thats the thing, sometimes it DOES make people shut up. It may not make Jen or the other women he attacked shut up, (thankfully) but it will make some women not speak up. Seeing the barrage of blatant misogyny so many women voices face may make some women decide its not worth it to speak up. And even Jen said that when she was originally considering doing the pinup calendar for Skepticon she debated on whether or not it was worth the mess of comments she knew she was likely to receive for participating in the calender. Not because what they were saying was right but just because having a steady stream of hate heaped on you can have a really awful effect. Jen happens to be made of tougher stuff than me (and some others I imagine) and she handles all this stuff well and so do countless others, but these attacks really can and do make a difference even if its “just the internet.”
This!
I’ve been pondering starting up a blog of my own. My general plan isn’t even for a particularly ‘activist’ blog, but one analyzing pop culture as well as discussing food and crafting (basically just stuff I like and find fun) and I have considered whether I should make efforts to disguise my gender. Next to nobody reading my blog, having people attacking it and me just because I happen to be female is one of my primary reasons for delaying posting anything.
Looking back at what I wrote my decision to be largely non-activist in my blogging is also probably influenced by my fear of having to face attacks.
*ponder* using a little critical analysis, i noticed the account only goes back to dec 3rd (Yesterday), and seems to consist almost entirely of over-the-top puerile misogynist comments directed at female bloggers.
It’s also telling how quickly the little troll backed off when confronted, too. No posts since yesterday, either. Just another pathetic cry for attention from a waste of digital space.
Can’t see the timestamps anymore (Twitter seems to hide them after a day) to see just how short-lived this outburst was…I reported the account for spam anyways.
These comments really are disgusting. But I think there are people who purposely go out and try to say the most disgusting, disturbing things possible. Since these particular bloggers all very rightfully talk about sexism, people who are trying to go out of their way to say vile things will then say things about rape to them. And I suspect that’s what’s going on in this case. I am definitely not that Jen shouldn’t follow up on this, and report it, and call attention to it. What ever reason this individual is doing this, it’s still wrong. And if this guy isn’t just trying to say the most vile things possible — and actually believes this stuff — Jen’s safety could be endangered, which would be even more reason to do something about it.
“i have no intention of harming ANYBODY! for all of u that are taking this seriously… grow up! its the internet!”
Wow. When some anonymous person is threatening you that’s no reason to take it seriously???
What kind of reality does this person live in.
@victoria I believe the guy from Canada got arrested and charged with 2 counts of death threats (I have never heard of a charge like that).
http://montreal.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110818/mtl_mabus_110818/20110819/?hub=MontrealHome
http://skeptools.wordpress.com/2011/08/17/case-study-notorious-spammer-brought-down-twitter-tumblr-social-media-mabus/
All you have to do to see the shallowness of this ‘defense’ is to threaten them back. Let’s see these assholes shrug it off.
TIP: best results come from questioning their sexuality.
Respectfully disagree. These emanators of noxious fumes would be delighted to get into an escalating threat war because (i) they are anonymous while Jen is not, so there is an imbalance in the level of the threat, (ii) the risk of rape is much, much higher for women, which yet again plays into the threat imbalance, (iii) it normalises their behaviour.
The only threat I would like to bring against these poisonous minds is that of revealing their identities so that they have to own their words and live with the consequences of issuing them…and where they have made criminal threats, get the police involved.
Oh but we’re not allowed to reveal anyone’s identity. That’s a much worse crime than mere sexist threats – so I’m told, anyway.
While you were wondering at the Mexicans part I was stuck on the parade. Is that the collective name for a group of Mexicans?
Really?
I think things like that allow me to hold onto a little of myself when reading these sorts of messages. The little bit of humor I can pick out of it keeps me from going incoherent in rage.
What a sad little twit.
What the crap?
That reminds me of the 12-year-old girl who wrote bad Dragonball Z fanfiction who told me to choke on a condom. Like, seriously?
I disagree with your dismissal of his comment that ‘this is the internet’. In fact, I think that the internet is the sole reason for this guy to act the way he does. He wouldn’t come up to a woman on the street and tell her he wants (sorry, HOPES) her to be gangraped by Mexicans. But being on Twitter means that not only can he say this, but he can ensure that all his intended target personally, but in an impersonal way, escaping repercussions. Not only that, but the internet culture of today seems to have made rape (which remains one of the most vile, demeaning and damaging things one human being can do to another) into not only something that is acceptable to wish onto someone, but actually something that is a NORMAL thing to wish onto someone you don’t like.
It’s that casual assumption that rape is the obvious go to when wishing ill on women you disagree with that really boggles my mind.
I have to assume that this guy is the sort to use disproportionate rhetoric in a lot of situations (“I’m going to punch you in the throat if you don’t stop drumming on the table,” type things), but I’m guessing that when he addresses these at men he sticks with run of the mill stabbings and fisticuffs as opposed to, say, “I hope someone cuts off your dick.”
I mean, I understand the power dynamic implicit in sexual violence (and threats thereof) but despite the dripping malice and extremity of the threats, from outside the situation I find myself sort of clinically interested in how a mind works that a) spends that much time seeking out and targeting women with whom he has an intellectual beef and b) somehow finds rape threats and physical insults a satisfying way to address his grievances.
It’s pretty apparent that the issue at hand is misogyny more than ideological differences, but in that case, how peculiar to target a group of women much less likely to give him the the sort of troll feeding he’s probably looking for and also more confident and empowered and therefore more likely to take legal action than a more random bunch of women would be.
I wouldn’t be so sure that this individual wouldn’t say something like “I hope someone cuts off your dick” to a man (or even threatens to do it himself.) We certainly have no evidence that the person in question wouldn’t (nor, of course, any evidence that he or she would. In fact, we don’t even know that it’s actually a man, though I share the intuition that it probably is.) I suspect that this individual just goes around saying the most vile things possible on all sorts of websites to all sorts of people. Note that he also leveled a racist comment against Mexicans in the midst of his threats towards Jen; he probably has a separate Twitter account for trolling racial minorities or other groups. If I’m right, and this individual is just trying to anger people, then he or she would level the most disturbing comments possible towards whatever groups would be most offended by them. In this case, we have a popular female blogger who sometimes writes about sexism in our society. So, he’s going to level sexist comments at her. If she had been an African American man, we’d probably be seeing racial epithets.
I’m not saying that Jen shouldn’t comment about this or bring attention to it, or that we shouldn’t fight to end this kind of behavior. I am saying that this is the kind of psychology which I suspect brings about these kinds of comments on the internet.
I wonder if it’s related to how people seem to talk of prison rape as if it’s just an expected part of the sentence now. Whether gleefully, or just assuming it will be a regular event, or joking about it as if it’s common and generally doesn’t seem like anyone is trying to stop it.
Since there are millions of people on the internet who don’t act this way, it’s pretty obviously not the “sole” reason. >.>
I can’t really picture him yelling something like this on the street though. And it’s unlikely for him to track down phone numbers/addresses of all the people he wishes to peddle his message to.
The anonymity and low barriers to entry inherent in the internet are probably a necessary condition for this kind of fuckwittery, but they obviously are not a sufficient condition.
Shit like this makes me seriously ashamed of being male. -.-
It’s not in any way intrinsic to being male, fortunately. They’re this bad purely because of their own choices.
This. I don’t think the collective-guilt-irrespective-of-collaboration meme is helpful, either.
It probably isn’t helpful but I think it’s a pretty natural reaction to the sheer volume and vitriol.
Look, he is a sicko, a maggot, a candidate for justifiable homicide, we get it. So does that mean that I, an owner of a penis should be inextricaby linked with such a sociopath. Should my Father (along with my mother, both socialist and believed in equality of the sexes.) My brothers and my uncles all brought up with the same ethos. Friends and neighbours all (mostly) of the same mind. You take the worst of a gender then pigeonhole the whole, you do know how bad a scientist that makes you don’t you? A few privileged rich white males have most of the power, so the other 99.9999% of us white males who are just as fucked over as everyone else also have to take the rap for it. I’m sorry but I forgot to collect my rewards for being a member of the ‘privileged class’ do you think my check is still cashable? Get over yourself as we are all pieces of shit until they (democracies only) want your vote and then they appeal to the lowest common denominator and get voted in again. You want to waste your time attacking males who are no your enemy well go for it I’m sure the government and the powers that be are happy with your stance as what do they say. ‘Divide and conquer.’
I sick of being linked with every sick imbecilic nutjob on the planet just because I have a penis and if anyone doesn’t agree with me, then I can by the same logic compare them to Lizzie Borden.
Uh…where did I say all men were like this?
I don’t know if you intended it or not, but you only used a gendered pronoun to identify the actions of that individual. I never saw you say anything generalized to “men”. While I happen to be a penis-endowed individual, we must be sharing this hallucination where there is just nothing about “men” here, just you calling out a common idiocy that is often invisible.
Although, come to think of it, I think there’s a tiny chance he meant to reply to VikingAtheist.
…which says even worse things about him.
A woman being threatened with rape for pretty much no reason?
“Meh.”
Someone suggests that the prevalence of habitual rape-threats directed at women for pretty much no reason reflects badly on men as a whole?
“OMGWTFBBQ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Except Jen didn’t say that the tweet reflected badly on men as a whole — only on people who write this sort of crap. Which it does. The point of Jen’s post was not to excoriate men, but to show the level of sexualised vitriol that female bloggers have to deal with.
Err, yes, but VikingAtheist did, at least by implication.
That’s why I mentioned him in my post you were responding to.
If everyone who felt that way were to oppose and denounce the imbecilic nutjobs with even half the vigor you’re complaining here, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
Nice to know where your priorities lie.
Azkyroth.
Yes your right because all us white males are currently on our yachts in Porto Banus drinking Chateau petrus and smoking Cuban cigars while we send our more feral brethren to make rape and gangbang threats to women with our ticit support. Do you really think we hang around with these losers and have an influence on them. As for the rest of the responses it is simply guilt by association.
Dude. Nobody’s suggesting that you can fix the problem. Nobody’s asking you to do anything, even. Yes, if a friend of yours was doing this sort of thing, I’d hope you would be willing to do your small part and call him out on it. But it’s only a tiny minority of the population that actually goes this far — so beyond that, any feelings you have that you are being called upon to fix the world are coming from yourself, not anyone else.
(Yes, it’s a simple fact of life that the overwhelming majority of people who engage in this kind of shit are male, and for pretty obvious reasons. That’s a result of a huge collection of cumulative factors and historical accidents. Still not anyone’s fault.)
Ok, fair enough Brian.
Sorry for the rant It’s just that I’m feeling so unwelcome on FTB’s these days. I can’t even log onto Pharyngula any more yet I do not remember getting banned? It seems like I’m getting blamed for something beyond my control. If people of all races and genders behaved better when they where in power I would understand it but people at the top whatever gender or ethnicity are still tossers to all. I’m a lefty liberal in the European sense of the word and still I can do no right, it just gets depressing after a while.
Dave, your bona fides are irrelevant. The problem here is taking offense at something that you say should not apply to you. I saw no broad brush being applied here to men in general, merely a commentary about the fact that some scummy men + the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory = raging assholeness of a nearly unspeakable degree. Seriously, if you have to have that explained to you, maybe it’s no wonder you feel yourself unwelcome around here.
Have a friend that does not share your views read your comments aloud. Then ask yourself again why you feel so unwelcome on FTB.
Respond to the actual content of posts you’re “replying” to or GTFO.
Oops, guess the decision’s been made for you.
I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about DaveDodo007. What about this post could POSSIBLY make you think Jen is blaming all men for the actions of this individual?
I don’t think people are comparing you to nut jobs for the reasons you think they are.
dude, what are you talking about? She is referring to this guy (and his ilk) not men in general. I would guess readers of this blog can distinguish those two. this guy may be male, but not all men are like this guy. (all dogs are mammals but not all mammals are dogs!)
Owner of a penis =/= a man when we’re talking gender, which you seem to be conflating with sex. I know you think it’s clever and cute and all that, but it’s not.
I’m a lefty liberal in the European sense of the word and still I can do no right, it just gets depressing after a while.
What a load of BS. First, if you really were a liberal or a leftist, you’d probably not be using a derogatory word like “lefty” to describe yourself. That’s a belittling term that right-wingers use. (And is there really a “European sense of the word,” or are you just parroting a right-wing “Old Europe socialist” stereotype?)
And second, if the message you’re reading from our response to you is “you can do no right,” that’s most likely because: a) your reading comprehension really sucks; b) you’re too thin-skinned to handle criticism without lapsing into paranoia; and/or c) you’re saying stupid shit and making an ass of yourself.
If there is such a thing as a European sense of the word ‘liberal’ it’s probably mainly the fact that liberals over here (at least in the Netherlands) don’t necessarily have strict liberal views. Essentially this means that people as well as political parties over here tend to have a mix of views that can be left-wing, right-wing, motivated by religion or literally anything in between.
Also, even as someone who generally leans towards the left I’ve never experienced the word ‘lefty’ as a derogatory or insulting term. Probably because I’ve always seen people who draw conclusions about others based on one single variable as idiots.
Actually, that may be the case where you live, but where I live, we “lefties” use it as a badge of pride.
The only one generalizing about all men is you.
No, all men do not behave so vilely, nor did Jen ever insinuate such a thing. But, it is telling that you think she did.
SO sorry we forgot about the feelings of over sensitive self centered cry baby.
You as an owner of a penis shouldn’t be linked. You should be linked by nature of being a douchebag.
In the old testament it says a woman that gets raped may have to marry the attacker. So, maybe some of these threats are really marriage proposals…you know, in a biblical way?!?!!? Don’t let it get to you, I live in a Oklahoma, and get death threats from good Christians from time to time. At least if some unfortunate accident would befall me, that would be great!
Maybe there ought to be a blog called “Men Call Me Things” dedicated to this sort of BS. We already have the blog Fat, Ugly or Slutty for gamers, so it seems like a natural evolution.
I’ve been thinking about doing the same for weeks, so hey, I put one together…
http://mencallmethings.tumblr.com/
There’s nada on it yet, since I just opened the tumblr, but I’ve got a gmail account (mencallmethings (at) gmail (dot) com) associated with it for people to email screenshots and the like…
You should let Greta Christina and Amanda Marcotte know about the tumblr, too!
Hey, Jen, would you mind if Niki M started off the mencallmethings tumblr with the screenshots of those twits* from @whprax222? Presuming that it’s okay with Niki, of course.
*I know they’re supposed to be called “tweets”, but given their content, “twit” seems more appropriate.
Sure, that would be fine.
Awesome and thanks, Jen. I’ve got them both posted..and I’m all ears for suggestions on format and stuff, guys, just drop me an email!
Ah, J. J. Ramsey saved me a trip to my bookmarks!
This is the point at which I would contact Twitter and alert them to what he’s doing because it breaks some laws someplace.
No, that point was before you posted and sent your hoards after them.
….are you trying to imply that there’s some sort of equivalence here?
“Hoards”? What’s Jen hoarding?
Crap, I missed the directive to go get this whprax person, Gutter will be so displeased. Why have you removed me from the Hoards list?
Seriously, I hate the bullshit accusation of sending readers to harrass others. I’ve seen that misdirect ad nauseum, yet I’ve never actually seen a blogger do it. What I have seen, are bloggers that send their readers to take polls. That’s it.
Even in the worst case scenario, it basically boils down to “MO-OM! HE HIT ME BACK! AND I DIDN’T DO NOTHIN’ TO HIM!” >.>
I know I’m late, but The Hoards of Jen would be a decent band name.
It seems to me that the problem is that some people on the internet seem to lack accountable for their actions. Too many people say what ever they want without any accountability for their own actions. Rather, they say that
“I have no intention of harming ANYBODY! for all of u that are taking this seriously… grow up! its the internet!”
Perhaps some of us tend to say what we mean and mean what we say rather than misbehaving children, of whatever age, that put forth the comment of the child, of whatever age.
*** please forgive me if I am mostly incoherent at times, I have a stroke and sometimes have trouble communicating ***
I wish all the best to Jen and all the other women getting harassed.
BrianX.
I was just testing your empathy co-efficient and it appears you have none. Fuck you, you’re nothing but a castrated male. What a pussied knob you are:-)
Oh, wait, you do deserve to be in the offended demographic. My bad, and have a free gofuckyourself with MRA soggy biscuit sauce.
Also castration smashtration. I’d guess the odds are about 55% that I have a bigger dick than yours anyway.
You’re done here. Take your bile elsewhere.
but, but, it was smiley faced bile!
You actually expect people to empathize with you?
People like him seem to have this idea that their ideas are the default and anyone who disagrees is an aberration. It’s the same thing that keeps that annoying right-wing email forwardest you know sending around racist jokes and that Ayn Rand based the entire plot of “Atlas Shrugged” on.
Y’know, I actually agreed with the point you were trying to make (hopefully anyway) that generalizaton based on gender is wrong. However, and this is the important part you don’t seem to understand, THAT DID NOT HAPPEN HERE! I’ll admit that I haven’t been here long, but I’ve yet to see anything that suggests that all men are assholes simply because they’re men.
…and even if it HAD it wouldn’t be a higher priority than the fact that someone was threatened with RAPE for PRETTY MUCH NO REASON.
Exactly
That only holds true if you have any sense of proportion.
I can think of several atheists who would rather discuss Ms. McCreight supposedly associating all men with an asshole over her (or any woman) receiving rape threats.
Strangely this does not hold true when the discussion is about a man stereotyping women. Oddly enough, it then becomes a very minor point that should be ignored. Bringing it up is a marker that a blogger should be ignored until they decide to focus on real issues and that they are hypersensitive (in the case of a woman) or telling women what they should be concerned about (if they are a man. This is also terribly ironic).
Yeah, for all those years of supposed ‘civilization’ we’re still a long way from abolishing all of the ridiculous double standards that are so commonplace that we tend not to even notice them anymore.
I have to ask though, what exactly does atheism have to do with all this?
Sorry. Dragging past drama and taking unnecessary pot shots. Probably tainted a semi decent point.
Why do you hate men so much?
If I was dictator for a day, I’d get twitter to provide me with the guy’s name and home address, get the address of all of his neighbours and his parents/family, and post printouts of his tweets as well as confirmation from twitter that he sent them. What is viewed as “anonymous” speech on the internet usually isn’t. With cooperation and work it’s usually possible to identify people like whprax222 – in this case it would be easiest to have twitter release their records on him.
I’m generally a fan of anonymous speech. But when it’s abused, public shaming is a good response. If that fails, getting the scumbag arrested and put in jail is the all too infrequent next step. If it happened a bit more often, it would be a good thing.
Note that as a target of threats, Jen and the others can expose this person.
And this is why I refuse to ever say to someone being harassed, stalked, insulted, demeaned or bullied online ‘toughen up. It’s just the internet.’
It is not just the internet. This isn’t some magical place where hurtful, demeaning and insulting things can be said with no harm or damage done. (I’m not exactly a saint either.) Our words have just as much affect here as in the ‘real world.’
This. Free Speech is not an excuse to engage in this kind of behavior and it should not be debased in order to pardon it.
Jen,
It’s horrible that you have to put up with such assholes. But I’m glad you’re not letting it affect you. You’re doing the right thing by publicly ridiculing the immature hatemongers. Keep up the good work!
“… grow up! its the internet!” Hmmm, I say right bakatchya! Is he really saying that it’s a grown up thing to be an immature asshole on the internet? Wow…. I’ll pick up the little pieces of my brain on the wall now. Hold on Jen, you’ve got my unconditional support against such idiocy.
I think the Internet needs more accountability. You are participating in this goal by exposing these people. Good job!
This guy is a disgusting waste of good carbon that could’ve been used as cockroaches. I’m sorry you have to put up with such a tosser and I hope no-one will let him affect them much.
But isn’t a human more oxygen than carbon?
Oh, Jen!
You are surely doing something very powerful, that this internet coward feels so emasculated by your mere presence that they must thus resort to anonymous (and powerless) rancorous spite.
(Kudos. Please keep up your good work, and prosper!)
I’m surprised that no one pointed out how badly this creep is Doing It Rong. See, if I wanted to send Jen a threat that made her break out in a cold sweat, I’d wish some sort of biolab clusterfuck on her. But I’d need a grad level knowledge of biology to do that… :) Sucks being a mere lib arts grad.
…something like, “I hope your samples are all contaminated by a parade of Mexican lab assistants!”
No. Not like that at all.
“I hope Melvin deletes your calibration!” maybe?
A little late to the party, but I can only think of one response to people like whprax222 and his slimy apologists: fuck them. They should be held up as examples of what not to be. I don’t know if it is just because they can take refuge in anonymity, or what, but that behavior isn’t acceptable.
And it makes me sad that people have to point out how vile and stupid they are being.
Reading over the comments
Does anyone else find it weird how we always say ‘Don’t let…’ or ‘Good going not letting…’?
It’s not as if we’re letting anyone do anything. For me it’s little different from saying ‘Good going not letting such-and-such kick the stuffing out of you’ or ‘Why’d you let so-and-so beat you so bad?’
From this vantage point it looks like we’re placing to much emphasis on ‘power of will’ to overcome someone else. It’s as if by the sheer power of mind alone we should be able to overcome any obstacle (which is, to me at least, an absolutely ridiculous idea) no matter how great or seemingly insurmountable.
I have to wonder if this doesn’t help set up the narrative Lord Asshole XVII set up when defending his rape threats against Ms. McCreight and others. The two seem to, in a way, shift responsibility away from the aggressor. They could, had you been great enough, been readily rebuked. In fact being able to rebuke such harassment is the marker of an adult therefore you cannot be an adult if you cannot handle such harassment.
Or am I just over thinking things?
You aren’t. This is an exceptionally toxic element of…well, most cultures, really.
Yeah. Victim blaming via “harden the fuck up” is a problem; the whole idea of “not letting the bullies get to you” is itself toxic.
But also Naah. It’s good to appreciate women like Jen and Rebecca for their bravery, and to recognise just how difficult it is for a person to stay strong against such a constant barrage of horrific abuse and threats. Do you have any good ideas for how to phrase such compliments and encouragement, without implicitly blaming others who have less ability to withstand the misogyny?
Um… *blushes* well no. The only thing I can think of is to make the compliments more like ‘Good job stomping on that little creep’ but that sounds like it would only make it worse.
Maybe just restate the obvious ‘We’re here for you. You don’t deserve this crap. Thank you for speaking out.’ Stuff like that, maybe
It’s like getting a rape threat is almost a rite of passage for women bloggers. I won’t have really made it until someone tells me to suck their dick. :p
I wanted to make some sarcastic comment pretending to threaten you, but I couldn’t make myself do it. But it’s the thought that counts, right?
Doesn’t that happen about seven minutes in?
Given the brevity,intensity, and topical focus of his vitriol, I suspect this was sexual stimulation. A wanker, literally.
I know: ewwwww.
If there’s an upside, it’s that it forces a choice: either you speak up, or you side with the monsters–there is no neutral ground.
found this on reddit today. really kinda thinking about abandoning it.
http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/n1e9g/walking_condramofuckndickshun/
A slightly frivolous but quite relevant note on the subject of hurling insults and threats on the internet from the safety of your own home: http://www.funnyordie.com/articles/322261cd73/why-internet-commenters-will-eventually-end-the-world
If you are a man, and are upset that asshole men get called out for being assholes, and feel that it somehow tarnishes your entire gender by association:
The most efficient way to make this a non-problem is to apply social pressure to the asshole men to stop giving everyone a bad name.
Fair point, but how do we go about doing that? If I know anybody like whprax222 up there (which I sincerely hope I don’t), because of the anonymous nature of the internet, I won’t know I know him, if you know what I mean. And it’s a bit hard to put social pressure on someone you don’t know (or don’t know you know).
Please re-read what Carlie wrote.
When you hear someone express such odious sentiments, speak out — don’t let it sit unchallenged.
You know, if you life was a romantic comedy, this would probably be how you meet The Guy.
Thanks for the laugh! This post is sort of upsetting/triggering for me, and it was AWESOME to suddenly find an LOL in the comments section.
What motivates people to threaten strangers in such a vile way?
What a loser.
The threat of rape is also used to keep men in line but not in the same manor. With men the threatened rape will happen when you are tossed into jail. Just step out of line and we’ll fix your ass for good.
The smaller the man the bigger the threat that is used.
Is it bad that I’m so used to the rape part of the threat that my first reaction is “Why Mexicans?”
Yes, it is bad, but it’s not your badness but society’s: You shouldn’t have to have experienced so many rape threats that you’re used to them. But, obviously, you have.
And the answer to the inner question “Why Mexicans?” is “Because he’s racist as well as sexist.”
I trust you forwarded the troglodyte’s threats to his Internet provider and to Twitter. There’s no need to accommodate his urge to spread his feces further than he can throw them.
Meanwhile, Dennis Markuze was due out of rehab Dec. 2 or 3. I wonder if he’s any better?
Looks like his Twitter account’s been suspended.
This post made me start an atheist Twitter account, perhaps I can take heat off you, lolz. Why do I do such strange things I’ll never know. @Tarpiea
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