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Outing the Internet's worst troll.

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wraith808:
I found an interesting comment on a follow up article, and thought it good food for thought.

'Remus Shepherd' is not my real name.

In 1996, I was publicly outed for my sexuality. I chose to flee from the net and all contact with people. I lost my job and many friends, but I survived.

In 2000, a friend of mine was publicly outed for his sexuality. He was the owner of a business and could not vanish the way that I did. He chose instead to take his own life.

Stripping of another person's anonymity is a vile tactic, no matter how flimsy that anonymity may be. If you suspect someone of a crime then yes, out them to the authorities. Let the legal system work. But publicly shaming people for activities with which you do not agree is a tactic used by blind mobs and righteous zealots. Outing is used to prevent rape victims from speaking out, it is used to harass and kill homosexuals and other minorities, and it is used to enforce social dogma on those who are merely different. It cannot and must not become an accepted tactic. The consequences on the weak and vulnerable will be far worse than any good that may come from using it.

--- End quote ---

40hz:
^Apples and oranges. If you work long and hard enough, anything can be made to look "almost" like anything else.

And in this case it's really a stretch to compare the the situation surrounding Violentacrez to what was done to Remus Shepard. And, with all due sympathy and respect for his pain and personal tragedy, Remus Shepard paints with a pretty broad brush. He also ignores (or dismisses) how putting unacceptable behaviors out in the clear light of day are effective in putting a stop to them. Unless, of course, you'd like to make a case that blowing the whistle and naming names of people involved in something like the torture and prisoner abuse that took place in the Abu Ghraib was unfair to the US service personnel tried and convicted for such crimes. (Note that these practices had been previously reported to authorities through official channels with no result. It wasn't until it got "outed" before the entire world that action was finally taken.)

Then there's the fact that several million people were murdered in openly secret extermination camps a little over half a century ago. It wasn't until long after it was too late that the world saw and was sickened at what went on. One ponders what might have happened if the intelligence gathered by various sources about the conditions in the Nazi death camps had been made public, and not simply dismissed by those who received it as "impossible to be happening."

Of course there are revisionists who continue to insist none of that ever happened. And there will always be those that will believe them.

Many times those in authority, for various reasons, turn a blind eye towards problems they don't know how (or simply prefer not) to deal with. In the case of Reddit, Violentacrez fell into that category.

Still, Reddit will have its "levelers" and revisionists (and those who appeal to what they consider "higher principles") who will claim this individual is now being misjudged and treated unfairly for his own self-elected behaviors. Behaviors which this same individual frankly and unrepentantly states were done purely with the intent to provoke outrage and dismay.

Marvin Minski once remarked that there was an unfortunate tendency on the part of many to focus far too much on similarities rather than differences. Minski said that, on a certain level, anything could be considered to be the equivalent of everything else. He went on to say that doing so led to "brain rot."

He suggested that we were far better off focusing on dissimilarities in order to zero in on those "differences that made a difference." That, he felt was key to all human inquiry and progress.

I agree. 8)

Deozaan:
^Apples and oranges.

[...]

Marvin Minski once remarked that there was an unfortunate tendency on the part of many to focus far too much on similarities rather than differences. Minski said that, on a certain level, anything could be considered to be the equivalent of everything else. He went on to say that doing so led to "brain rot."-40hz (October 18, 2012, 04:08 PM)
--- End quote ---

But apples and oranges are so similar! They're both fruit. They both taste sweet. They are both used to make juices. They both grow on trees. They both have seeds. . .

:D

Tinman57:
I found an interesting comment on a follow up article, and thought it good food for thought.

'Remus Shepherd' is not my real name.
In 1996, I was publicly outed for my sexuality. I chose to flee from the net and all contact with people. I lost my job and many friends, but I survived.
In 2000, a friend of mine was publicly outed for his sexuality. He was the owner of a business and could not vanish the way that I did. He chose instead to take his own life.
Stripping of another person's anonymity is a vile tactic, no matter how flimsy that anonymity may be. If you suspect someone of a crime then yes, out them to the authorities. Let the legal system work. But publicly shaming people for activities with which you do not agree is a tactic used by blind mobs and righteous zealots. Outing is used to prevent rape victims from speaking out, it is used to harass and kill homosexuals and other minorities, and it is used to enforce social dogma on those who are merely different. It cannot and must not become an accepted tactic. The consequences on the weak and vulnerable will be far worse than any good that may come from using it.
--- End quote ---
-wraith808 (October 18, 2012, 03:14 PM)
--- End quote ---


  As sad as that is, it will never end.  People are just too damned nosy and have to insert themselves into everybody Else's business, no matter how big or small.  And if that isn't enough, then they have to go a step further and ridicule anyone that's "different" to the point of either trying to change them or ruin their lives.  They can't just live and let live.
  People like that are either so unhappy with their own lives and try to make everyone Else's life miserable (misery loves company) or they think they are above reproach and need to command everyone to their line of thought.  You know, full of themselves.

wraith808:
^Apples and oranges. If you work long and hard enough, anything can be made to look "almost" like anything else.
-40hz (October 18, 2012, 04:08 PM)
--- End quote ---

Same thing happened on the article.  People focused so much on the substance of what the 'outing' was used for, that they missed the point.

He wasn't defending Brutsch.  He was condemning outing as a tool.  And I totally agree.  As much as I don't want the government in my life, either via social or financial issues, some things are better handled by an impartial party.  And whether as the result of internet or 'real life' interaction, prosecution is one of those issues.  Mob rule is never going to be the right thing.  It may make short term gains, but in the end, the mob is too fickle, and too subject to direction by a minority of the mob and emotion for an unregulated group of people to ever come up with a truly reasoned and rational approach to any problem.  This is a slippery slope, and one that's far too easy to find one's self downhill of unjustifiably.

If you have the information, and think that the person did wrong, then report them to the correct authorities, and let them take it from there.

But, as I said in a response to this, true change moves too slowly for short term emotion to be satisfied- so that's where the mob comes in. If this is bad, and there is not a law against it, it's easier to pillory the person and put them on display in the town square rather than work for true change that won't just apply in this one situation.  And one that won't put the needs of those that are in similar but different situations at risk.

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