Bleep Em!

No pictures today. No sales pitch, save for an appeal to sanity. I do have a lot of book related news to share, but at present none of it matters.

My friends have been forced from their home by gutless cowards. A woman whose offense was being intelligent and successful has been threatened with horrible acts. Because she tells the truth. Because she refuses to compromise on an issue that affects everyone on this planet.

I am a whitish man of middle years. Privilege applies to me, and the odds of an internet troll threatening to rape me until I bleed to death are low. But the people I care about are not so lucky, and today two more of them have paid the price for my “safety.”

I’m sick of this shit. I’m sick of self-important losers on the lunatic fringe representing me and my friends to the world. I’m tired of not attending gatherings of gamers because I don’t want to pitch someone out a window for being an insensitive ass.

Because I myself am an insensitive ass, and when we start drawing that line it never ends. Morons with keyboards can destroy lives as thoroughly as a thug with a gun. And thanks to the anonymity of the online world, there’s nothing that a good moron with a keyboard can do about it save to keep trying, in the vain hope that someone will listen.

Clearly the asshats can read, even if their comprehension seems to be lagging behind by 100 or so years.

I lead an introvert’s life. But as a freelance writer, I have to be accessible by phone, by email, and online to potential employers or customers. My home address takes only a couple keystrokes to uncover. My identity can be stolen without my knowledge, and I’ll find out only when I go to buy milk. I’m already unsafe in my own home, simply by typing these words.

But it’s nothing compared to the uncertainty 52% of the people on this planet live with every day. In the most prosperous nation on earth, some of the most reprehensible behavior imaginable is celebrated by people who never had to face consequences for their actions as children.

Last night, I was designing business cards for my partner, and we were worried about what information to put on them. Ten years ago a phone number was a no-brainer for her to give out. Now it’s a horrible idea. should we risk exposing ourselves to the trolls? Are a few sales worth the pain it might cause down the road?

Well screw those guys. I’m tired of apologizing for my gender, or the color of my skin, or the people I love. And yet I have, I do, and I will again, every time senseless attacks like this happen. And I’ll keep doing it until the children of the internet grow the fuck up.

Grow up, kids. Get a life. I’d tell you to go outside, and maybe kiss a girl, but I care about women too much for that. Maybe someone you know with more patience than sense will show you this web page. maybe you’ll read my words, and decide to live a better life.

But it’s far more likely that you’ll just find someone else to attack. In which case our best hope as a species is that someone walls you up in your mother’s basement until the air runs out.

Or better yet, she finds out what you’ve been doing down there, and kicks your ass to the curb.

End trans.

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