May I offer some potential evidence ?
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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Feminist blogger wants you to STFU |
| 2015-09-15 |
| [TheGuardoan] It shouldn’t be a surprise that I’m not fond of comments sections. I think you’d be hard-pressed to find many female writers who are. On most sites – from YouTube to local newspapers – comments are a place where the most noxious thoughts rise to the top and smart conversations are lost in a sea of garbage. That can apply to writers as well. Not everything that emanates from a writer's pen is pure gold. In fact, most of it is pure garbage. But it is free speech which will be protected by more speech, whether Jessica wants it or not. There’s a reason, after all, that the refrain “don’t read the comments” has become ubiquitous among journalists. But if we’re not to read them, why have them at all? Some freelancers read and respond to comments much of the time. Comments even may be helpful in some cases. For instance, the Daily Mail posted a foto last night of a Russian T90 tank, labeled as such, except that it wasn't a T-90. It was a 152mm self propelled artillery piece. (It was a 2S19.) I helpfully pointed out the error. I wasn’t always a comments-hater. When I started a feminist blog in 2004, I was thrilled to finally be able to talk with other young feminists online and was open to chatting with detractors. I saw the comments section as a way to destabilize the traditional writer/reader relationship – no longer did audiences need to consume an article without a true opportunity to respond. Comments even made my writing better those days; feedback from readers broadened the way I thought and sometimes changed my mind. But as the internet and audiences grew, so did the bile. Now if feels as if comments uphold power structures instead of subverting them: sexism, racism and homophobia are the norm; threats and harassment are common. (That’s not even counting social media.) Sux to be on the internet where even the lowest of the low will tell you what they think, don't it? That's not the bad part. The bad part is when you whine like an 11 year spoiled brat that a few people don't appreciate your bile. For writers, wading into comments doesn’t make a lot of sense – it’s like working a second shift where you willingly subject yourself to attacks from people you have never met and hopefully never will. Especially if you are a woman. As Laurie Penny has written, “An opinion, it seems, is the short skirt of the internet. Having one and flaunting it is somehow asking an amorphous mass of almost-entirely male keyboard-bashers to tell you how they’d like to rape, kill and urinate on you.” The problem is so bad that online harassment is a keynote subject this year at the Online News Association conference. Gawd forbid you do additional work in a flooded market like journalism. Gawd forbid you are forced to make corrections when some lowlife points out a grammatical,factual or conceptual error in your personal pontifications. And I can't speak to "threats" online to rape or kill. They aren't specifically illegal since they are free speech (freedom is a pesky thing, huh), so how you handle it is every bit as important as the existence of those "threats". My own exhaustion with comments these days has less to do with explicit harassment – which, at places like the Guardian, is swiftly taken care of. (Thank you, moderators!) Rather, it’s the never-ending stream of derision that women, people of color and other marginalized communities endure; the constant insistence that you or what you write is stupid or that your platform is undeserved. Yes, I’m sure straight, white, male writers get this kind of response too – but it’s not nearly as often and not nearly as nasty. Puleez. Get over yourself. I don’t much understand the appeal of comments for readers either. Outside of the few places that have rich and intelligent conversation in comments, what is the point of engaging in debate where the best you can hope for are a few pats on the back from strangers for that pithy one-liner? Isn’t that what Facebook or Twitter is for? It's called putting a human face on the Gawdlike persona you would rather exude than the vulnerable writer you actually are. Debates may devolve into love or hate fests, but they have their uses, believe it or not. And Facebook and Twitter are just other outlets. Seriously: when tech news website Re/code shut down its comments section last year, editors cited the growth of social media as one reason for the decision: “The bulk of discussion of our stories is increasingly taking place there, making onsite comments less and less used and less and less useful.” Comments sections also give the impression that all thoughts are created equal when, well, they’re not. When Popular Science stopped publishing comments, for example, it was because “everything, from evolution to the origins of climate change, is mistakenly up for grabs again...scientific certainty is just another thing for two people to ‘debate’”. When will we see the humanity and dignity of women as a fact, rather than an opinion? Because "the humanity and dignity of women" is subject to debate, just as for men? As for scientific certainty, when nothing gets discussed about the implications of scientific conclusions on an individual, that will always be a bad thing. Rather than shut off all discussions abut the faux issue of climate change and imposing solutions with do little about it, open debate makes it easier to frame the issues for everyone, so that decisions can be made. It’s true, I could just stop reading comments. But I shouldn’t have to. Ignoring hateful things doesn’t make them go away, and telling women to simply avoid comments is just another way of saying we’re too lazy or overwhelmed to fix the real problem. No shame in admitting you're overwhelmed. No shame in admitting you can't handle whatever attention comes your way with your views. If you can't handle the Big Megaphone, maybe its time to try a smaller one. Websites and news sources are increasingly moving forward without comments because they find them unnecessary and counterproductive. In my perfect world, more places would follow their lead – at least until publishers find lasting solutions to making comments worth it. Worth it for readers and for writers. Because the nastiness on our doorstep has piled too high for too long, and I just want to get out of the house. |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #13 May I offer some potential evidence ? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2015-09-15 14:17 |
| #12 The article make me appreciate the 'burg even more. Everything she says is mostly disproved by this place. Perhaps Feminists are their own worst enemies. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2015-09-15 14:04 |
| #11 Yet I find the comments on Rantburg the most interesting part. Except maybe for the headlines. But I do see what the writer means - I read some of the comments the other day at the article about Pacifica radio tanking. Some twit was hogging all the comments with their view how unfair it was, another of the many vast conspiracies. I believe the spewer used a female nym. Another feminazi who wants us all to pay for her radio station with less than a thousand listeners. Clearly a conspiracy! |
| Posted by: Bobby 2015-09-15 13:28 |
| #10 the US is the only country in the world with a first amendment protection of free speech and freedom of the press australia does not have it, i wish it did. In australia, threatening hate speech on line is prosecuted by law so is defamation if you publish something nasty about someone -even if true- they will take your house from you and all your money in victoria there is not even the freedom of speech to criticise religion so you cannot criticise islam as that might be *vilification of religion* which is prosecutable under law NSW Police issued a press release in the wake of the martin place Islamofascist attack stating they would prosecute the *crime of bias* if anybody were harassed for their religious views (ie if a hijabi were challenged on her advertising her beliefs, she could complain that she felt insulted and the police would get you) this NSW Police media release was then posted on Islamophobia Register Online, run on facebook by miriam veiszadeh, an apologist for sharia and Islamofascism, possibly aligned to the muslim brotherhood her facebook page runs propaganda to promote muslims as victims of a giant Islamophobia backlash where their very lives are threatened daily by white racist islamophobes therefore building a case for special legal protections and blasphemy laws she is seeking to redefine Islam as a *race* so it can get further legal protections from tough anti-discrimination laws that stop discrimination on the grounds of the colour of your skin. now that is to be extended to your ideology |
| Posted by: anon1 2015-09-15 12:02 |
| #9 When will we see the humanity and dignity of women as a fact, rather than an opinion? Never. Those are by definition opinions. Human (government) laws and human (dignity, respect) valuations are always opinions. Running an op-ed and running around telling people to get in suit or shut up is a prime recipe for getting all sorts of feedback. It is so predictable, it is almost like the purpose of it all....either than, or your co-workers do not like you and troll your site as well. "I'm here to tell you my opinion and my job are just as equal if not more so than any man, but I can't handle the icky parts of my job and have to have somebody take the trash out for me or I get nauseous." That's some real gravitas right there. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2015-09-15 11:52 |
| #8 Golly. Hemingway is trying out a different line, as well as his daily anonym change to get ahead of the moderators. But really, men invented war, women throw rugs and comfy chairs? Clearly Hemingway's experience is limited in both directions. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2015-09-15 10:43 |
| #7 Try and make me lady. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2015-09-15 10:34 |
| #6 Personal opinions are freedom. Common stuff and often a Luxury( if you have it at all ). Humanity as it actually IS. Reason and tolerance is NOT coin of the realm in most human communication. Decency is actually probably against Human Nature. If they CAN shut you up, then ( trust me ) they WILL. Human nature is a fist most of the time. You learn to be polite to people who can and will hurt you. Just the way it is. See you in Church, sweety. Men invented Wars and women invented throw rugs and comfy chairs. Women have a good card with sex. Men can be persuaded. Politics is the art of compromise. You tend to believe what you have to believe and you save up for a gun. Am I lyin' to 'ya? |
| Posted by: Tiny Snins1607 2015-09-15 09:06 |
| #5 In other words she doesn't like comments because not everyone agrees her spew isn't the finest wine ever... And that is just being hateful and racist and sexist and... |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2015-09-15 08:49 |
| #4 Way to completely make her point, Raj. |
| Posted by: Thraling Hupoluns2819 2015-09-15 08:45 |
| #3 Maybe they should not allow her to comment again... |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2015-09-15 07:05 |
| #2 Tolerance is a two way street miz. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2015-09-15 06:21 |
| #1 This broad can go **** my ****. |
| Posted by: Raj 2015-09-15 00:49 |