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March 26, 2007
Disgusted
I'm really angry right now. Angry that blogger Kathy Sierra has been forced to cancel speaking engagements and exile herself at home because she's started receiving death threats on her blog and others. Please read her post, because she explains the situation better than I can.
Bloggers have tolerated meanness in the community for far too long. What starts as tasteless name-calling and mocking all too easily escalates into vicious ad hominem attacks, humiliations and now threats against someone's well-being. It isn't the first time this has happened on a blog, and it's probably not the last, but it's first time I've seen it happen to someone I respect and cause them them almost paralytic fear.
What's the cause of this behavior? Who knows what hatred lurks in the hearts of the people behind the attacks against Kathy. More generally, though, the signs are all around us. From bad behavior by shock jocks to the endless threads of insults you can find every day on Digg, Fark and Slashdot, it seems our culture embraces those who engage in a pissing contest of increasingly caustic rhetoric. Do we have no disdain for such behavior? Do we not feel the need to stand up and shame people for acting this way? This behavior can't be tolerated, and God knows it shouldn't ever be rewarded.
Thankfully, many bloggers are standing up in support of Kathy. Robert Scoble is even taking the week off from blogging in solidarity with Kathy. I think he might be on to something.
Stay strong, Kathy. Don't let the bastards win. -andy
Tags: bloggers | blogosphere | bullies | cyberbullying | Kathy Sierra | meanness | Robert Scoble | shame
Posted by acarvin at March 26, 2007 8:48 PM
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