Patton Oswalt Sucks

In our most recent class, we had the pleasure of having Prof. Nick Brody from  The University of Puget Sound, speak to our class on the topic of Digital Feminism.  He went over many topics surrounding the technology we live in today, and how it relates to what we have gone over in our class.  We covered topics ranging from the Digital Divide (pertaining to gender), to the topic of anonymity on the internet.

The area that struck a cord with me the most, was going over how the internet has enabled those to have a sense of anonymity, and how we use that.  This tied in perfectly with the articles “Not all men in the ‘friend zone’ are bad guys,” by Ally Fog, and Laurie Penny's article “Laurie Penny: sexism and misogyny on online dating,” that we had written papers on previously, it quickly became obvious why were given the assignment in the first place.

When on the internet we are always surrounded by anonymity, whether it is through us using social networking sites such as Facebook or twitter, writing comments in the comments section of a news article, using message boards likes Reddit, or even reading said message boards.  Whether or not we are actively using it, someone is using it at some point.  Anonymity gives those who may not have a voice in the physical world a chance to be heard, it gives them a chance to freely say what is on their minds without fear of repercussions, and many great things can come from this.

But just like everything else in this world Anonymity can be abused.  Just go to any random comment section on a news story and read the comments.  It won't take long for you to come over numerous comments that will appall you.  Just go to twitter and see some of the responses people give to others.  And the crazy thing is, females are on the receiving end for a majority of this abuse.  According to an article written by Amanda Hess, a study done by the University of Maryland showed that feminine user names incurred an average of 100 sexually explicit messages, while masculine user names incurred an average of 3.7.

According to WHOA, out of 256 cases of abuse in 2013, 174 were against females.  That is 60%.  So as we see are large number of those who are harassed and abused on the internet through anonymity are females.

Within the posted video at the beginning of this blog, we are introduced by Patton Oswalt, a comedian, who has received a decent amount of online harassment himself.  We see him physically confront his harassers in the hopes of calling them out for being cowardly by needing to hide behind anonymity to say such hurtful and hateful things about him.  This being a Funny or Die video, put a twist on it, and ironically made all these people willing to say these things to his face, and also lead successful and meaningful lives.  It also shows a group of people who are capable of having a conversation about their differences.

This video obviously is not how life is, but shows humor and irony in a very touchy area.  Many people who partake in cyber bullying would not have responded the way the people did in the video.  It has become impossible to have any type of constructive conversations with many who resort to hateful words while under the protection of anonymity.

But what if we could get some of these people in a room.  What if we were able to confront them with some of the hateful things that they said under the protection of anonymity?  Would they be as bold and continue to say the hateful things that they were saying?  Or would they back down, and even apologize for the things they said or did.

I personally believe that the majority of the people who say things under the protection of anonymity would not be as combative or hostile towards their victims when they are face to face.  Although some may still be just as douchey(Hunter Moore), but they would be an exception to the rule.

This leads to another question tho, if they were not nearly as combative in real life, would it be because they felt like they were 'caught', or would they sincerely feel bad for what they had done?

Another question is why is it that a majority of the victims are females, and the majority of the perpetrators male?  What does this say about our society?  I believe that a majority of the perpetrators are males who have grown up to view women as an item or an object instead of a person.  They have not grown to respect women as people and as equals, but as an object of desire that they feel entitled to.  I also believe that a lot of the male perpetrators lack real life social skills to approach a female, and therefore have not learned how to have healthy interaction.

Non of these answers justify their actions, in fact there is never any justification to harass anyone in that manner, but we have grown up to be a nation of instant gratification, therefore when someone sees what they want they take it, when someone thinks about something they say it, with no regards to others well being, physical or mental.

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