There is a sad story out of London that is a commentary on the mutating influence of anonymity on the Internet. Brenda Leyland killed herself after being confronted about her online abuse of the parents of the missing girl Madeleine McCann. Sky News tracked her down as the troll responsible for thousands of hate filled messages to Kate and Gerry McCann, whose three-year-old daughter went missing in Portugal in 2007.
What is interesting is that she faced a criminal investigation. We have previously discussed the worrisome trend in England in criminalizing different forms of speech. While Leyland (writing as @Sweepyface) was vicious, the 63-year-old was also engaged in what appears to be free speech. She is an online bully — something that we all have had to deal with on blogs as a constant reality. Some people find anonymity intoxicating — unleashing the most vile and hateful sides of personalities. It is truly chilling to think that some many people actively repress such impulses until they find a vehicle to attack others without accountability. However, I have serious concerns over the criminalization of speech.
Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has made clear that social media could be a criminal offence if they contain “credible threats of violence” or target an individual in a way that “may constitute harassment or stalking”. It is the harassment element that can be highly ambiguous. The prosecutors have said that “Grossly offensive, indecent, obscene or false” messages can be a crime if a “public interest” case. That creates a huge chilling effect on a wide range of speech that some might see as offensive or untrue. As one of the greatest vehicles for free speech in the history of humanity, these prosecutions threaten to curtail a significant resource for free speech.
The article below cites a study by Canadian researchers that concluded that “Both trolls and sadists feel sadistic glee at the distress of others. Sadists just want to have fun… and the Internet is their playground!”
The glee turned to a nightmare for Leyland when her true identity was revealed.
Source: Yahoo
Momo was not sharing the profits from his lucrative gambling profits from his exile in Mexico. He was planning on coming back to Chicago and try to reestablish himself as Chicago boss again. Marcello was concerned about Momo talking about the CIA mob collaborations. Of ALL mob bosses, Marcello was the most secretive. No mob guy could come to New Orleans w/o HIS prior approval. He had a sign in his office, “Three guys can keep a secret when two of them are dead.” And, since you get chubbies about bureaucrats w/ guns, former CIA Chief William Colby says the CIA did not clip Momo. But, who gives a rat’s ass what ANY CIA bureaucrat says. Momo alienated too many bosses and was too high profile. Plus, he wasn’t giving anyone a cut of his gambling profits. If you can put your know-it-all posturing on just this topic aside, you know you’re wrong. Let it go. I have read a lot on this. I mean, I know your an attorney and all, but give it a rest, dude. There’s no shame in being wrong.
SWM:
Whew! Clint Eastwood’s got nothing on you.
http://youtu.be/tKHX4M3vJg4
SWM, it would be a hoot.
Yes, davidm would add diversity. I don’t think there has ever been an anti-gay, creationist, climate change denying guest blogger. His blogs could be base on scripture. What once was a legal blog could be come an evangelical blog on weekends.
CIA bureau chief John Whitten testified before Congress under oath in 1978 that he believed CIA assassination chief William Harvey whacked Sammy G. But hey who is a CIA official to argue with Nick?
See misinformation.
mespo – want to give us a cite to the Whitten claim? The CIA is not supposed to be working on US territory.
davidm is the man for weekends. It’s long overdue.
Now that the weekend agitator has left, let’s please do JT and Darren a solid and just talk substance.
Paul, Mark has left the building. He’s always been a drive by shooter like paulette. He get’s out when it gets hot. He pissed on his leg about Giancana. And you know what, it goes back to his belief that the govt. knows what they’re doing. The mob used the CIA as their b!tches in clipping JFK. To someone EVER think the CIA could outsmart these mobsters shows you just how flawed their thinking really is.
Sam was killed by someone he trusted. He was killed by his mafia brothers, any idiot knows Momo wouldn’t let a CIA agent get close. The superb book, I Heard You Paint Houses, about Hoffa and his hit man, Frank “Irish” Sheeran, make that quite clear. Russell Buffalino, Santo Trafficante and Carlos Marcello ordered the hit. The CIA hit Momo, what a Richmond rube! I feel like I’m playing chess w/ a chicken. The chicken knocks over all the pieces, takes a dump on the board, and then struts around like they just won. The CIA were the mob’s women, they pimp slapped the CIA.
And to quote Dean on Shirley McClain, ” I love ’em but they’re not operating with both oars in the water. ” Gotta go.
Speaking of Sam G, the CIA did a little regime change on him in 1975 when he was in his kitchen frying sausages the night before he was scheduled to testify against them. About 12 shots as I recall. He really got the last laugh. Good example.
PS: See what I mean, Annie. The arguments are like a Dean Martin roast. How can you look away. Foster Brooks got nothing on these guys.
I think davidm is long overdue to get a weekend slot. Maybe take mespo’s place in the rotation. mespo obviously thinks he’s too good for us now. Why slum it, there’s a rich echo chamber mentioned previously where he can hang w/ the people worthy of his superior knowledge.
Nick – since Elaine, mespo and Chuck are all hanging out at Gene’s I think we need a conservative blogger.
Liberals want an echo chamber or no comments.
Don’t break your arm patting yourself on the back there, Mark. My, how the weekend blogger has fallen. Darren is the only adult one here. I must have been told here a hundred times here, “If you don’t like it, you’re free to leave.” I’ve never said that to anyone yet. But, I’m pretty close. We get diversity and now the old timers want to shut down comments. Scary mindset.
The little condescending a-hole RFK gave a sanctimonious speech to Sam Giancana @ the McClellan Hearings. Sam just chuckled and the hurt little man bristled, saying “I thought only little girls chuckled.” Sam just smiled. A few years later the mob did a regime change. They knew if they took out RFK who was harassing them, JFK, his brother would loose the hounds. So, they did a regime change, taking out JFK, knowing LBJ hated JFK as much as they did and fire him. I’ll give a quote in English. “Revenge is a dish best served cold.”
There is one reason only for the acrimony on this, and other similar blogs – differences in political ideology which have suddenly been deemed unacceptable.
There used to be a time when people would get together and bicker about politics, and still be buddies afterward. But we appear to have descended to the tar and feather approach to anyone who doesn’t toe the Party Line.
Want to discuss Ferguson? Racist.
Criticize Obama? Racist.
Fiscal conservative who wants the government to stop wasting money? You want kids to die.
Rich? Selfish
I’m sure ideologues from all parties do it.
It’s the tiresome ad hominem comments like these that are an impediment to adult discourse. It’s like throwing poop at a tony cocktail party. And I don’t like to get my dress dirty when I’m there for grownup conversation.
Annie:
“Lazy or what”
************************
I’m going with “or what.” Just a sophomoric misinformation campaign. That’s what upset so many of us here who had intellectual integrity. In my line of work, I see propagandists all the time and those who lie just to see if they can be caught. A lot of folks around here can’t stand that type of person and recoil not wishing to waste their time. That’s their prerogative. A lot of blogs don’t allow any comments and that is the reason. It drives off genuinely intellectually curious people. For my part, I like to watch the silliness I see argued. It’s sort of a Lou Leaky moment watching the old ways and knowing they are dying off and inevitably yielding to the forces of modernity. I do miss the adults however.
mespo – for us adults it is Shirley MacClaine.
But, it does impress some.
david, LOL! I’m having condescension flashbacks. You know they have their sanctimonious big boy pants on when they start flashing the Latin.
Bettykath, yep.