Magog1 said:
....i've never threatened any game maker.
Do you want a cookie for human decency?
Hope not. but teke it, cookies are yummy.
(http://fiftytwoacts.wordpress.com)
If you are none of that group that send her threats-good, than this is not about you.Go easy, relax, whatever. If you are none of that people who becone aggressive and throw derogatory words onto other people, threaten them or say they should be killed:then thank you for meeting the ground standard of human decency. This rant is not directed at you, so why do you make it about your hurt feelings because of accusations? I mean, its pretty clear that jim was addressing the kind of people who did an would do this stuff.. Do you get angry if you see posters which say to you "dont drink and drive, you will kill somebody" because you never would do that and you feel unfair?
again:if you are no total fuckwad, nice, this is not for you. Or maybe it is.
Because even if you are not one that starts using slurs at people or threatens them because they have another opinion..what do you do, if something like that happens in your vicinity? Do you ignore it? Do you joke with those people if you play online and someone in that group uses these kinds of threat&trastalk against other people? Are you silent, embarrased? (what i mean ist:do you enable such behaviour by complicit silence?)
such behaviour comes not out of nowhere. I mean, usually this kind of behaviour wont happen so often in real life. Since the internet and anonymity, such situations have increased. Are you somebody who helped that? do you defend people who act like that because "its only words, dont be such a wuss" or "thats the internet for you. get over it"*(who said that you have to embrace shittiness? just because something stinks doenst mean that you cant clean it) Are you someone, who listens to people who talk about their experiences with harassment and threats and respect that or are you someone who tries to police them and say that just because you got one or two threats on you-tube and got called a fa*, other people should get over with or leave the internet?(d.h are you an active part of silencing because this toxic culture got so normal, that the idea to change for the better is so absurd? Is it so normal, that a vocal minority can drive some people out of public spaces?
Imagine, you go out for a cup of icecream. Your pals and you get some and sit at a plaza, but there are 2 or 3 people who stand around someone and use fould language, calling that person mean names and following this person everywhere. into the shops, in the bus, even sometimes they stand before that persons home, calling that person names, using derogatory language, using threats and NOT BACKING UP. Most of the time you see that one person, you will see the 2,3 other persons as well, harassing, taunting etc.
and now your pals:that's reality. if they cant deal with public spaces (part of the internet is) they should go and stay at home..
nobody would do that, that's ridiculous. But when this happens at the internet and people quitting one big part of their life because of that vocal minority that knows about their family, that pops up everywhere they are(blocking doenst works because you can get 30 accounts in a few minutes and a proxy isn't that hard to get..) there are people who use their time just to annoy one person, harass that person, threaten that person. and often people seem to be okay with that. because you often read these comments "*shrugg*thats the internet. go out if you cant cope...
But (well, almost)nobody would say:never go to the post or drive bus if you cant cope with the harassment, its just part of our culture..
because that would be defending it. that would be saying-it cant be helped and doing on the own things (until maybe you get targeted by such an person)
point is.-just because this culture is shit doenst meant that is has to stay that way. every time someone cant control their hate, its a little part that piles up to the big dung of hate. and then it becomes normal. or it is. We need tools and ways to solve that problem, at least in pages where its not about freedom over everything, but about good serious discussions.(like here)
i mean if someone hosts a homepage or forum and states clear that there is freedom to say whatever you want as long as it dont collides with the law that this is okay. As long as people know that this will never be a safe space, thats fine. And as long as there are safe spaces where people can communicate without having fear of this kind of stuff. This goes at the cost of free speach, yes. but as long as people know what the rules are (and arent obliged to join the site) thats okay.
but i think sites with a big open community need moderation. Twitter, facebook, maybe youtube. To help against those people.(i mena, there are rules, they just dont get enforced because the money and fun of some are more important than the participationa nd the feeling of safety of others. But this can be only as long as people are okay with this sort of thing without doing it themself. If enough people say-we dont want that, we want to be able to publish a note without having 200&x peopel tell me that i am fat ugly or slutty, gay, a pussy or whatever, then things might change.
But as long as people can act like you " I don't harass people therefore I am not a part of the problem and now i am going to ignore that and mind my own business" as this long will this minority be heard and the people who suffer by them will flee or even worse.(and its sad that people have to leave a big part of their life because of the behaviour of some people.)
No, we need enough people who 1. don't act like that (or only act like that ins paces where it is okay to act like that-unless it invades the privacy of people. doxxing&stuff is shit no matter where) and 2. don't ignore such an abuse or enable it through downplaying/policing/silencing the victim but to stand up and say:fuck that, thats wrong. that isn't funny. if you don't stop annoying my team you get muted and flagged.(and in an good world guys from PSnetwork,xbox&co would react.
(sadly they don't because THERE ARE TOO MANY COMPLAINTS. this girl form notinthekitchenanymore.com had to make a big fuss until some guy wh threatened her rape got banned after days. some users who sent her pms with disgusting, sexist, harassing BS are playing and posting happily ever after. there is no consequences for this kind of behaviour..i mean why, most people seem not to care or its is SO everywhere that ist normality and there for okay..)
that there are safe spaces in the internet where people of all kind can be open about their life and experience without the fear of stalking, doxxing and continuous cyber-bullying.
