This whole “Twitter Silence” thing is making me very cross today. With typical Weegie contrariness, if someone tells me not to do something, my response is “oh, you fucking think so?” and, to be honest, I could see it all far enough.
I’m going through a down period. My depression is back, I have upped the medication and am doing my best to crawl out of this pit of misery. When I am in pain of any sort – physical or emotional – my coping mechanism is to be quiet, hold all the hurt inside and squeeze it until it collapses in on itself. It always does. It just takes time. Which is why I am pissed in extremis at being forced to break my silence by the trolls of the interwebz who think it’s OK to abuse people, regardless of their gender, and then have a laugh when the people they want to silence shut up in protest.
Incidentally, if you honestly feel that adopting Twitter Silence is the right reaction for you, that’s all good and fine and glittery unicorns. Seriously. Who am I to judge how you choose to react? But for me, to be silent in the face of a bully goes totally against my nature. So, if I am forced to talk today, by God, it’s going to be loud.
Firstly, let’s not censor the internet. Any of it. I think the misogynist wankers couldn’t be more wrong if they tried, but that is their slimy, puss-filled, putrid prerogative. I’d rather educate them or at the very least shout louder than them, but never, ever refuse them the right to speak. Once you start legislating against people who disagree with you there is no telling where it will end. Look at North Korea: the people there think they’ve won the world cup many times because the people are not allowed to disagree with the government. This goes for Cameron and his porn curb. Just don’t.
When I was at school I was bullied remorselessly. The name-calling destroyed my confidence for years. It wasn’t until recently that I could look back at my childhood without ending up in floods of stupid, angry tears. But the long term systematic abuse of someone by their peers, or by someone who has authority or power over them is very different to the brainless, anonymous shite spouted by the majority of Twitter Trolls. These people hide in the anonymity of the internet and throw abuse at those who scare them, simply by being different. If you react, you are only giving them the attention they crave. Starve them of oxygen and they will wither away. Don’t get me wrong, if we know who any of these people are, name them, shame them, share THAT on Twitter and see how quickly the vermin scuttle back under their stones. They are revolting little gobshites and we shouldn’t validate them by taking them seriously.
I am now going to retreat behind my SELF-enforced veil of silence for a bit. But for all the haters/trolls/idiots out there, remember this: I am woman. Hear me fucking ROAR!
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