On Internet Justice

[chargirlgenius]

I've been only barely following the latest internets-craze, the Cooks Source thing. I only barely claim an acquaintance with Monica/Illadore, though we did have sushi together once. I think that means that I know somebody famous. :-) About the meat of it, everybody else has already said it better than I could, of course what's published on the

Comments

[strawberrykaren]

The mob will have forgotten, and will have moved on. The fickle pitchforks of fate will lead their truculent torchlight brigade to a new bête du jour.

[chargirlgenius]

Leaving what in their wake, and accomplishing exactly what?

[bunnyjadwiga]

A lot of people who no longer are susceptible to the claim that everything on the Internet is public domain, hopefully.

[chargirlgenius]

One would hope.

[trystbat]

I saw that too & felt the same way. Also, when that school board official posted bigoted anti-gay & specifically anti-gay-teen stuff on Facebook, sure, he was vilified, but ppl did start posting his home address & phone number online & his family was threatened. That's going too far, no matter how much of a creep the guy was.

[chargirlgenius]

It's always important when you start off with the morally superior argument that you stick to the high road. I agree, that behavior is absolutely inappropriate.

It's situations like this that we have laws for and a justice system. Sure, it's not perfect, but let's fix it instead of taking justice into our own hands.

[bunnyjadwiga]

Also, bear in mind that civil justice remedies are costly (and unreliable) for those who seek them. Thus grassroots disapproval tends to be the first step. (Yes, the world is full of people who would sue everyone they know to 'punish' them for something... and also full of people who are afraid to initiate a civil suit for fear of losing everything they own in legal costs.)

[chargirlgenius]

I'm in agreement with that, and I would prefer to see our justice system available to people without money as well as the rich. Although, in the case of the Walmart SCA Scroll T-shirt, it managed to get resolved through legal channels, without the internet starting a holy war against Walmart. That would have been amusing. I do suspect that the internet is most likely to rise up in indignation against those who do not have money or lawyers at their disposal.

[bunnyjadwiga]

I was watching this, and the person who sent the email is apparently the editor, owner and sole proprietor of the magazine. So posting the phone number for the magazine? Yup, her home number.

[chargirlgenius]

I'm unable to remember where you posted the armour archive comment, but I'm unfamiliar with the circumstance.

[chargirlgenius]

Yeah, that's probably the case. But I still think that the NPR article raises a good point to consider.

[chargirlgenius]

Thinking about this more, even if it was easily found on the internet, should people wholly unconnected really be calling her?

[dragonazure]

I think this saw this in a Terry Pratchett novel: A lie can travel all the way around the world before the truth can get its boots on.

In the age of instant messaging and blogging, this is pretty much axiomatic. Human beings have a part of their brain hardwired to want to see punishment/vengance/come-uppance for anything that displeases us (I read this on the Internet somewhere). Even when news of the crime has been exaggerated or fabircated.

Does Griggs deserve to be taken to task for her actions? Almost certainly, if the report is true--and I'm thinking it is. But this virtual stoning by the Internet mob is ridiculous. It is one thing to console the victim, but Internet version of vigilante justice is ridiculous

[chargirlgenius]

I must admit, I have been guilty of expressing righteous indignation on behalf of somebody who didn't ask for it. It rarely goes well...

[dragonazure]

It is one thing to express your opinion/anger, but another to act on it. Which is the case here. I think most people chimed in to express their outrage as well, and that was as far as it went. No need to feel sorry that you expressed an opinion.

But the people who engaged in or encouraged the harrassment are the wide-eyed rock-throwing zealots have become part of the problem. You are now internalizing their actiions and making yourself feel badly for their inappropriate behavior simply because they sharing your viewpoint....

I learned a long time ago that except under very specific circumstances, it is not worth my effort to take up any causes because of Someone Else's Dhrama.