Yo, Freedland
I have to add too that Freedland doesn't understand the online world at all. He says:
At present, you can be an irascible, misogynistic anti-semite online with little or no consequence. But what if that began to affect the rest of your online life? Note how careful people are to be well-regarded on eBay, where money is at stake. Might it not be possible to have a single online identity, one that you cared about, even if it had little connection to your identity in the real world?
Most of us do! The driveby bullshit of antisemites is meaningless. What hurt Kathy Sierra was that she knew the perpetrators. They have consistent IDs. I'm Dr Zen wherever I go, and most people who read this blog have a continuous online ID that you can track using Google.
What Freedland isn't getting is that online you consist of that identity, your previous posts, other comments, your Usenet life. That's what you are. If you just drive by anonymously, your comment is meaningless. It has no meat. If I go to Don's blog and call him a fuckwit, that has history, weight, maybe even importance for him. It's worth his while to try to show me that he was not fuckwitted, that his thesis holds, that what he says has value. Most trolls quickly learn that while the driveby can be satisfying, the effect of having substance is greater. I trolled PJ Parks to oblivion over her "writing". She wouldn't have cared if some anon had jibed her over it. She could push that aside as meaningless nastiness. But my views have the backing of everything else I've said; most importantly, if I have "won" interwebnet battles in the past, I have the support of previous wins (and the deficit of previous "defeats" if I've been FOS). And it hurt because she knows my view is consistent and powerful; hers like a castle of dust, impressive so long as no one blows on it. Getting trolled by N.O.Body would not have crushed her -- she'd probably have been able to play it to the gallery and feel she had won the day; getting trolled by Dr Zen led her to animosity, anger, refusing to interact with me. It's like I got a campaign medal!
Anyway, Freedland, yo, put your thinking cap on. Why actually should there be a consequence for being a misogynist antisemitic whatever beyond the disapproval and opprobrium of your peers? Have you wandered into some weird fantasyland where what people say in blog comments matters? Here it is. I'll spell it out for you, and for every other fucking faintheart who doesn't get it: this is the interwebnets and the truth is whatever you can make it. It's all about pretending, creating, making new spaces, new identities, new realities. It's not about making it like the meatworld so that the same dreary fucking nobodies can scratch the backs of other dreary fucking nobodies and have it all your own way. And Sierra, what a whiny fucking cunt. She should stay away from our playground.
posted by Dr Zen @ 1:14 pm
6 Comments:
I can't think why you would want to revive an old conflict from another place, complete with names, in this petty, crowing way. Sounds like you're not entirely convinced you won last time round.
I was just thinking, if you had beaten someone like you say you did, you probably wouldn't feel the need to crow about it again months later in a place where nobody can be expected to read it. But it's your blog, man. You be as cowardly and childish as you like. Nice to see you squirm, too. Glen Wall, fucksake. How desperate is that?
You might look for a better word than "playground" as well. I don't think I've ever seen anyone having less fun.
I wasn't talking to you, Zen, I was mocking you, but obviously you didn't get it, so I'll try a more direct tact: Bragging about some trolling you did to PJ way back when is as pathetic as a 40-something former high school jock bragging about a guy he beat up 25 years ago. And before you get all "Ooh, little Jeffie is running to his mommy's defense," I'd be thinking this post is pathetic regardless whose name you used. That said, given that PJ is my mom, and someone I love dearly, it can't be any surprise I'd read this and think, what a cocksucker. Thing is, you know PJ doesn't read your blog, and you know I do, so perhaps you're trolling me? Whatever. I've been enjoying your shit since I started reading it, and posting comments to show you I've been reading and enjoying it because, well, I'm a big sweetie like that and I just read you tell a commenter recently that you want more readers! so I've been obliging. But this bullshit post is bush league. Especially from the guy who once emailed PJ, after her blog had been hacked, and said, "I couldn't bear it if you stopped writing!" So tell you what, I'll come back once more, probably sometime tomorrow, to see what insults you can throw back at me, then say, thanks, it was fun while it lasted, but I need to spend more time learning how to scratch my ass so I can in turn teach my little boy how to scratch his. xoxoxoxo
Jeff K
(I'm having to post this anonymously because Blogger comments are being shitty right now)
"getting trolled by Dr Zen led [him] to animosity, anger, refusing to interact with me. It's like I got a campaign medal!"
It was just illustrative. And the insults are all one way. That's how it works when YHBT, Jeff.
It's fine for everyone to see how Zen reacts to views other than his own. "fuckhead". "you excuse for a turd".
I hope that attitude doesn't chase anyone away.
If there's anyone out there: he's not all bad.
Well, I'll cry for a week if I drive you away, Alan, but I expect I'll get over it after that.
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