Internet hate, trollage and bitching is something we're all very familiar with.
On a small level, each of us deals with it on a daily basis. A shitty email, a snarky reply on Twitter, a snub on Facebook...
And then there are people who deal with mass amounts of hatred online. People with strong opinions, women who are brave enough to put themselves out there, and those who love controversy get royally shit on.
Do they deserve it?
I don't believe that someone, anyone would deserve to be threatened online. To have slanderous, gossipy comments made about them in a very, very public way.
No matter how much you disagree with someone's politics or opinions, there's no need to be nasty.
Yesterday, Julia Allison, Loren Feldman, Paul Carr (and for a brief moment, BitchBuzz's pal Milo Yiannopoulos) all sat down to discuss Internet Hate.
Feldman and Allison have a history of internet hatred between them, as he's publicly mocked her struggle with bulimia and said many, many other derogatory things about her.
Paul Carr, who is friends with both Julia and Loren, brought the two together to discuss internet hatred, and to see if they could work their shit out.
It was ultimately a very interesting conversation. Watching Loren and Julia discussing - like actual grown-up adults - the things Loren has said, why he has the opinions he does, and how Julia responded was fascinating to watch. Like a fucked up "When Internet Nemeses Meet IRL" social experiment.
It became apparent that behind all of Lorens snide comments, he means well. (Really.) He's a complete asshole about it, but at the end of the day, it seems as though he just wants what all of us want from Julia, which is for her to be herself on NonSociety. Feldman also made it clear that he thinks if she could be incredibly successful if she just let loose a bit.
Carr asked Loren if it's "easier for him as a guy" to just sit back and tell Julia that she should just tell Reblogging to fuck off as "women on the Internet get a lot of shit anyway". Loren responded that, "Absolutely women get it worse than men. No question."
Carr further pushed Loren on the issue of men and women online, and pointed out that it was "easy" for Loren to "lecture" Julia and say that she should just go "who gives a fuck", and Loren replied that he says the same things to "that big pussy Arrington" and that it's not a "man-woman thing".
He says if you want to "win this game" you have to have a "thick skin".
So women get it worse than men, but it's not sexist and we just need to have a thicker skin?
In my opinion, Julia Allison has an incredibly thick skin. Lots of the female bloggers and online personalities out there have a thick skin. It's just a matter or experience, isnt' it? You have to find your own way to deal with it. Some people will never figure it out, and they'll either stop blogging, or find it to be a torturous, horrific thing. And then there are some people who do figure out how to cope with the negatie bullshit said about them online, and they'll be able to enjoy the ride.
Would Allison be given more respect if she told Reblogging to fuck off? Maybe. But then they're always going to find another way to hate her, aren't they?
I suppose it annoyed me a little as the tone of the interview felt very "How can we fix Julia?" and came across as, "We'll be nicer to you if you fix A, B and C." It's her fault, she needs to change. But in Feldman's advice to just tell everyone who's an asshole to fuck off, he did say that she should just tell him to fuck off, too.
Which, hopefully, one day she will.