“I have canceled all speaking engagements. I am afraid to leave my yard. I will never feel the same. I will never be the same.” Kathy Sierra
She said this in a blog post explaining why she is leaving the blogosphere, among other things: “I do not want to be part of a culture–the Blogosphere–where this is considered acceptable. Where the price for being a blogger is kevlar-coated skin and daughters who are tough enough to not have their “widdy biddy sensibilities offended” when they see their own mother Photoshopped into nothing more than an objectified sexual orifice, possibly suffocated as part of some sexual fetish. (And of course all coming on the heels of more explicit threats).”
Things such as this make me lose all hope for humanity. Why is it that certain things have to happen. Why do always have to seek confrontations, to attack others? Can’t we all just get along? Probably not. Man will always be man, online or offline. This has been true for eons and we should all find way s of dealing with conflicts brought about by the insecurities, greed or just plain evil of other people.
This does not mean I condone attacks against other people. No. I abhor them. I am just admitting that there is always going to be those among us who will not want to respect other people. Death threats, of course, are another matter altogether. Last I checked, making a death threat was a crime. Therefore, those who made such threats to Kathy Sierra must be brought to book. What they did is unacceptable and unjustifiable.
If you look at the threat closely enough, you will get the all-too-familiar feeling that the threats against Kathy were made partly (or precisely) because she is a woman. This is just sad. I mean, this is 2007! That some men still think its okay to demean someone just because she’s a woman is just ineffably disturbing and wrong. It only says this much about the perpetrators: they are insecure, feel inadequate and probably even jealous of Kathy’s immense success in the blogosphere and picked on her because they perceived her to be an ‘easy’ target (again, because she’s female). This can only mean that these people are also cowards.
As bloggers, we should attack any and all forms of such behaviour in the blogosphere. Such people cannot and should not be let to get away with anything. Attacks of this kind simply must stop, especially those tinged with the foul odour of gender-based aggression and/or discrimination.
To Kathy: my thoughts are with you and I offer my support in any way. I hope you decide to blog once again – the blogosphere is not all bad. Don’t let them win.
Finally, a word to the anonymous death-threat maker: if you’re going to threaten me with death, at least be man enough to do it face to face (or at least not anonymously) so that I can smack your foul mouth and see what you have to say about that.
I hate humans!