GamerGate’s war against Ghostbusters and Leslie Jones ((African-American group post))

[Starry Messenger]

http://www.amalanetwork.com/2016/07/19/gamergates-war-against-ghostbusters-and-leslie-jones/

The question Jack Dorsey needs to ask himself is why he allows people like Milo Yiannopoulos to continually pollute his service. Milo’s had his account suspended on more than one occasion, and his role as conductor of multiple harassment campaigns resulted in having his cherished Blue Checkmark of Verification revoked. There’s no doubt that the only reason he works at Breitbart is because nobody else wants a libelous bigot in their organization and the white supremacist news sites don’t make enough money to put him on the payroll.

Removing a wannabe fascist like Milo would be a welcomed step towards reducing the instantaneous maelstrom of bile that so often occurs on Twitter; it would send a message that Twitter is actually serious about protecting its users, and deter the countless other bigoted windbags that strive to reach Milo’s level. There’s even the possibility that Milo’s removal from the service could see a boycott by thousands of mangry grown adults who truly believe a good way to spend their time on this planet is yelling at women for liking a Ghostbusters reboot.

What we also need to ask ourselves is how accepting we’ve been of behavior like Milo’s in our complacency and inattentiveness. Because, as many others will tell you, Leslie’s experience isn’t singular. It’s just well known. Any person of color, any woman can be subjected to this kind of abhorrent abuse without a moment’s notice—with nobody reaching out or writing an article at Buzzfeed. Even white men can endure certain levels of similar abuse should they dare to say anything that pisses off GamerGaters, alt-righters, 4channers, while supremacists, or someone overly defensive of the status quo (though it’s difficult to see a difference between any of those groups). And yes, sometimes people considered more ‘progressive’ will take part in large, disorganized abuse, in case you were already saying, “But what about—“ in your head.

Because while we like to focus on the top brass of websites for not doing enough, we also need to focus on ourselves and the online culture we tolerate so long as it doesn’t affect us. Leslie received no shortage of replies from people telling her to just ignore the hate.

That doesn’t work. It never has, it never will.

(warning, lots of screencaps of horrendous racist shit at the link)

[cyberpunk]

1. Yiannopoulos is a goddamn putz...

...I'm convinced he only exists to infuriate people, and unfortunately, he is exceedingly skilled at his job.

[Coolest Ranger]

2. As usual my dumb ass

read the comments and you can tell who the republicans are in the thread. All of them fussing about different view points while insulting the actress. I replied and I expect a few of them to call me an idiot for not accepting another view point. My block button going to get a workout.

[Recursion]

4. I'm scared of Twitter

Facebook brings the crazy, but at least it's people I actually know in real life...

[Starry Messenger]

5. I've been lucky--I like it because you can interact with public figures.

Teh downside is that the public figures have to deal with the public. A couple of opinion-makers who have large followings can make someone else's life miserable by rounding up the troops and sending them to swarm someone's posts. It's hard to prove unless you save posts showing that someone is actually doing it in public--otherwise who is to say why you suddenly attracted a lot of attention?