Todays soapbox is something I have become increasingly aware of and that's online bullying and harassment. That sounds kind of harsh when i say it like that but let me give you a few examples and you may find that you have indeed been party to it too. There was the girl who did the hunting, remember her, Ricky Gervais (more on him later) tormented her for a while and so did all his fans and most of the international press for a week or so, then there was that advert that used a well heard of phrase for getting in shape and looking attractive to the opposite sex while in swimwear who were the ire of all feminists for again, about a week. Let's not forget (did you already forget?) about the scientist who said something stupid and again was rocked by a landslide of abuse for a little while, lost his job too over that one. I could continue on for a while in this fashion and there are undoubtedly stories which are more relevant to you that I missed but you get the point.
The point here being that these people were mercilessly tormented by enormous amounts of people for a period of time and then all of a sudden were forgotten about as the world moved on to the next victim. Yes each one of these people did/said something that we don't agree with but MY GOD!! do they really deserve the anger of the planet for their "crimes"? Such a public throwing of shit at individuals hasn't been seen we put people in stocks, and that is truly what it feels like to me. We put these people up for public flogging for a length of time while we hurl detritus at them and we move on about our daily business, feeling like we've had a moral victory over those "bad" people. It's the same reason we watch Jeremy Kyle, except with wider audience participation. Well done human race, we've regressed to the 1800s for our forms of punishment.
I'll look back at Ricky Gervais now. We like to feel like he's a crusader for animal rights. The people he singles out being the scum of the human race. When he tells us to attack we do, taking on these depraved humans and teaching a lesson about having an online presence they'll never forget.
But hang on, has Ricky Gervais shown us all his campaign to ban trophy hunting? Has he tried to use his giant influence to change gun laws? Has he used his considerable position of privilege as a straight white male millionaire to bully the tour companies that allow this so far perfectly legal thing to happen? No he has not. Or if he has it certainly flew under the radar. Instead what we have is a man with an angry army close to 10 million strong (on twitter alone) attacking individuals. That's like him singling out a junky on a street corner, telling everyone in London to kick them in the face and then telling the world he's totally fighting the war on drugs.
As for these people YES they do things that we find terrible, but really think of the consequences, do they deserve it? Let's put that into perspective. You eat chicken sandwiches right (Vegans go pat yourselves on the back for this analogy)? You probably have since you were old enough to eat a sandwich, I know my daughter does. Now what about the disgusting way poultry are treated in battery farms in the UK and abroad? I mean millions of chickens slaughtered (that's a strong word isn't it) every day so that there's enough chicken to go in your sandwich.
Now two things generally occur to you at this point. 1 - it's not your goddamned fault your tasty chicken sandwich had to be made from a terrified bird watching thousands of it kinsmen die as it too was dragged screaming to it's death. 2 - I don't fucking care because eating chicken sandwiches is such an integral part of life I couldn't imagine not doing it.
Now imagine that one day 10 MILLION people tell you that you're a monster for all that dead bird you're cramming in your mouth, not just that you're a monster but that they'll fucking kill you. Some of these people will actively try to find you. Your face is then plastered over the news, even though everyone else you know and an entire industry is built around making chicken sandwiches, you're the only one feeling the burn. Your employer undoubtedly sees your face on every site they look through and fires you, even though they themselves probably eat chicken sandwiches but they don't want to be seen as condoning such "terrible" actions.
And then it stops. The millions forget your name and decide that someone else who told a despicable joke about horses having long faces (don't cause body dysmorphia in horses) is the new evil and chases him. You're left broken and terrified and possibly financially ruined by a rampaging mob that can't even remember what colour hair you have now.
This is what we do weekly now. We jump on the scorn wagon, pile our hate onto people who are by all accounts just like us but raised with a different moral code and then dump them in favour of women holding coke can between their tits for no reason at all.
If it was you standing in the streets and someone was locked naked in the stocks would you throw a stone at their face along with the crowd? Can honestly say that you haven't in your life done something that couldn't warrant a similar tirade from people? If you are not fighting directly at the cause of something (say for example you're condemning a dentist for killing a lion but you're not vegan and fighting against international hunting laws) then you are the bully and it's time to stop.
