Pity the Fools

See - I did finally post another episode of The Sleazecast!  All you doubters should be ashamed of yourselves!  But to business.  Not everywhere on the net is as genteel as this blog, it seems.  Oh no, there are places where people hide behind the anonymity the web uniquely gives them to be rude to people, bully, even threaten them.  Who'd have thought it, eh?  Whilst I don't want to downplay the sheer unpleasantness of the misogynistic attacks made on various prominent women via Twitter of late, I feel that the idea perpetuated by the mainstream media that this is a problem unique to the net, needs challenging.  Whilst the web and social media undoubtedly makes it easier for the average cretin to abuse directly the rich and famous, the fact is that even in pre-web days victims could still be subjected to campaigns of anonymous abuse.  Poison pen letters, abusive phone calls, obscene graffiti, to name but three traditional methods of terrorising people - all very difficult to trace to a specific perpetrator. 

These methods of abuse were also arguably more difficult to block than web abuse.  You can always opt out of social media altogether, if blocking individual abusers doesn't work.   I also find it somewhat disingenuous of the 'old media' to try and give the impression that this sort of abuse exists only on social media sites.  Have they never read the comments section under the articles on their own websites?  These are invariably full of the most rabidly misogynistic, racist and reactionary bile masquerading as comment, often with little or no relation to the actual article.  All, apparently, unmoderated.  Personally, I find it bizarre that large news organisations can't moderate their own comments whereas an individual like me can.  I moderate every comment on this blog.  It doesn't get published if I think it is offensive.  Trust me, once people realise moderation is in place, the abusers soon stop visiting.  Ultimately, of course, we should simply feel pity for these scumbags.  Whilst their vitriol is upsetting, especially when directed at you, we shouldn't lose track of the fact that these are individuals so socially dysfunctional they are incapable of relating to women in anything other than the crudest sexual terms.  Moreover, they are so inadequate that the only way they can make themselves heard is by posting this poison anonymously on the web, as they know that no reasonable person in the real world would ever listen to them.  Most of all, the last thing they want is our pity, as they just wouldn't know how to handle such an emotional response to their abuse.  So pity them.  The sad bastards.