Online interaction is many things - global, instant, and for better or worse, anonymous. Even on Facebook, people can go great lengths to hide their real names and faces. While this can allow social bonding without the worry of any sort of judgement, it also allows some people to show their true and ugly colors. The term "anon hate" is a well-known one to internet surfers and most users have either seen or experience cruel taunts from a nameless and faceless comment box. We've learned to endure it. Just brush it off and move on with life. Be an adult about the situation.
But what happens when it involves children?
Meet Mia Talerico, the star of Disney Channel's popular comedy, "Good Luck, Charlie". This show has been recently in the news for being the first on-TV sitcom to introduce a same-sex couple into their cast of characters. The characters in question are Susan and Cheryl, who are married and are the mothers of Charlie's friend. Many saw it as a good step in the right direction for equality on television, but unfortunately, it took an ugly turn. Recently, Mia has received brutal death threats on her Instagram from anonymous posters who are angry about the lesbian couple. Comments have ranged from explicit demands for her to die to crudely edited pictures of the actress with a bloody fist coming through her head.
Mia is five years old.
So what possessed a bunch of people who are (sadly) mostly adults to tell a five year old girl who has done nothing wrong (and is also not the creator of this show) to go and kill herself? Luckily, Mia's mother contacted security and the LAPD have been notified, but no one can be persecuted because they cannot be identified. It is bad enough to lash out at someone behind a computer screen via social media, but the fact that some people don't see a problem with sending death threats to a five year old raises the question of if preserving internet anonymity is even worth it.
http://www.dailydot.com/entertainment/disney-mia-talerico-death-threats/
What an interesting, and sad, story you found to comment upon. I hadn't heard anything about this, but agree with you that it is worthwhile and important to highlight because of what it says about anonymous commentary.
ReplyDeleteFortunately, Mia is too young to understand any of this. By the time she IS old enough to understand if she were to happen to see any of it, she will realize that even though her name was used the insults were misdirected since she had nothing to do with the issue the haters are spewing their venom about
Very interesting but also very strange, i don't understand why people feel the need to be so cruel on the internet, maybe its the rush of being someone you are not in real life because i doubt any of these people would voice their heinous opinions in the public sphere if everyone knew who they were and the consequences of their actions. Its just sad to see people regress to almost a primitive level because they are shielded behind the facade of the internet
ReplyDelete