OT: Curt Schilling vs. violent Twitter misogyny

Submitted by stephenrjking on
Curt Schilling, moderately controversial ex-athlete, tweeted a congratulating message regarding his daughter going to college next year.

This prompted a mixed bag of messages, including some mildly creepy stuff. Schilling responded to some of the junk. Websites like sportingnews.com and washingtonpost.com posted stories mocking him for getting angry at people hitting on his daughter.

But things were much uglier than that. There were tweets that went much, further than a humorous date joke. I think people can overuse terms like this, but violent misogyny is exactly what was tweeted about Schilling's daughter.

And Schilling decided not to take it.

https://38pitches.wordpress.com/2015/03/01/the-world-we-live-in-man-has…

(Edit: Note that the lingual content of the tweets is absolutely NSFW, and I link only because it's necessary to know the context)

And I say good for him. The Internet is a pretty random, diverse place. People have odd senses of what is appropriate and what is funny. And, for the most part, so what? I don't have to go there.

But the kind of violent, dehumanizing excrement that those guys were writing about a teenage girl is absolute garbage. The kind of culture that tolerates or encourages such hateful internet behavior is morally bankrupt. It stems from a mentality that believes that hurtful words said on the Internet don't matter, and that such words have no consequences. And it is far, far too widespread. This subculture deserves neither public hearing nor public sympathy, and Schilling's aggressive and public response is an important effort to expose those trolls for what they are.

Why bring this here? Because this is a net-savvy audience. We've all seen junk like this. Most of us hate it. Maybe we shouldn't be so passive in assuming there's nothing we can do about it anymore.

But there are also a few people who may enjoy it. Enjoy the thrill of saying things that you could never say to someone's face. The thrill of finding an eloquence, no matter how vile, that you cannot achieve in social situations.

To that person: read Schilling's post. And whether by fear or by a realization that it is good to be kind and respectful to others, change.

sdogg1m

March 2nd, 2015 at 12:40 AM ^

I agree Stephen. Good post. You realize this may potentially set off a firestorm though.

I have met far too many people on the internet who think they can put aside basic human decency and dignity because "it's the internet." The excuse is always "they are just kids." A lot of these kids are between the ages of 16-25 and its time that everyone start expecting more from them.

dupont circle

March 2nd, 2015 at 10:50 AM ^

Am I the only one that doesn't understand the point of him tweeting about his daughter playing softball in college? What is the point? Do the amount of "likes" or "favs" you get make you a prouder dad? The whole seeking attention from your or your family's accomplishments via social media is so weird to me. Perhaps I was raised in a more private and modest household, I don't know.

MGoBrewMom

March 2nd, 2015 at 12:09 PM ^

might not be a parent. Parents get proud--pretty much all of them do, and many of them post stuff about their proudness. Even HOF pitchers. Nothing like seeing success from your kid.

Some people are more private about it than others, but every parent I know feels deep pride at accomplishments like these.

getsome

March 2nd, 2015 at 2:07 PM ^

youre prob the only one.  i dont have or use any social media but this seems 100% nromal.  if anything, its the people linking entire photo albums of their family and making them all public to random people that seems a little off - no problem with schillings tweet, thats the age we live in.  if i want my constant iphone and email for business then i can handle some people tweeting

Marley Nowell

March 2nd, 2015 at 12:07 AM ^

You cannot find a person who dislikes Curt more than me. I'm glad he went after those who made such vile comments. I wish Twitter and other social media were not so easily anonymous so people had to stand behind their words.

The Mad Hatter

March 2nd, 2015 at 9:50 AM ^

and a lot of other forms of social media would die on the vine if not for anonymity.  People post all sorts of things that they wouldn't want their mothers or employers to read.

That said, some of those tweets were pretty disgusting.  Although, I've known more than a few people in my day who would be totally comfortable saying those things to the girl's face.  Probably not to her dad though.

EastCoast Esq.

March 2nd, 2015 at 12:09 AM ^

As somebody who thinks Curt Schilling is an absolute jackass, I got only one thing to say...

*slow clap*

RIGHT ON CURT!!!!

 

Love that he went right after these punks and got them suspended.

OccaM

March 2nd, 2015 at 3:46 AM ^

Agreed. I'm in shock that I agree with Curt Schilling on something... I kinda don't know what to do right now. 

I never thought this moment would ever happen... 

But on another note, I never really understood the point of being that vicious to random people on the internet. Like what joy does one possibly get out of doing it? Is said person's real life really that shitty that he/she needs to go make some stranger feel miserable behind the veil of a keyboard and monitor? 

Never understood this shit, and I grew up in the era of technology. 

Sam1863

March 2nd, 2015 at 7:30 AM ^

I never understood it either. (For that matter, I never understood being vicious to people even before the internet existed.) But a few years ago I got a better understanding from a friend who had an interesting take on the subject.

His view was that people who attack others verbally are basically desperate for control. Think about it: if you can make people angry, you are controlling how they feel. So, in a large way, you are controlling them. This would have a great appeal to those whose lives are beyond their control (as you said, whose lives are really that shitty). Since they don’t have much control of their own lives, they’re trying to control others. Pissing people off is an effective way to do that, and when it comes to pissing people off, you can’t beat the easy-to-use internet (although sports talk radio works well, too).

Of course, it’s easy to take such a dispassionate view when your loved one is not the target of it. When anonymous dickheads are making rape comments about your daughter from the cheap seats, it’s a little tougher.

Gulogulo37

March 2nd, 2015 at 7:56 AM ^

Not only is it atrocious what they said, but it's amazing how dumb those guys are. Saying that stuff with your job and photo available for anyone to see. I expected a bunch of guys making single comments. Can't believe how they just kept at it.

ShruteBeetFarms

March 2nd, 2015 at 12:19 AM ^

but I would prefer to call my daughter and congratulate her. I understand that creepy comments should not have been made in the first place, but why give people the opportunity?

jmdblue

March 2nd, 2015 at 10:34 AM ^

The only real "victim" is Curt Schilling's daughter and certainly no blame lies with her. I'll preface the rest of what I say by noting that I find Schilling completely intolerable (and he's a truly shitty writer besides).  

What went wrong here?  A few lowlifes responded in an unbelievably offensive manner to Schilling's innocent tweet congratulating his daughter.  The lowlifes deserve whatever crap comes their way, but the fact that they crawled up from their holes to say offensive things is completely predictable.  Further, he tells us he "gets it" at least 5 times in his blog entry so I assume Schilling should know that.  Celebrities don't deserve to be hounded by paparizzi and their families shouldn't be stalked on the internet, but it's part of the way today's society works and it's as predictable as church bells on Sunday morning.  Further, Schilling seeks as much attention for himself as he can possibly get and says some very controversial things (on top of losing $75 M of public money in Rhode Island with no apparent shame).  If he needs the spotlight so badly and continues to capitalize on his fame, he should take steps to keep his family out of it.  

His apology to his daugher shouldn't be for the embarassment caused by writing a poorly written screed of a blog post, it should be for putting her face out there for all to see rather than just sending an email to friends and family.  Part of being a badass dad is being a quiet, effective, modest badass.  

NittanyFan

March 2nd, 2015 at 10:57 AM ^

In absolutely no way was Schilling "wrong" here, but posting personal information when you have >100K Twitter followers does bring a certain level of "risk."

 

For that matter, we ALL take a "risk" every time we post ANYTHING on the internet.    Off-topic posts do tend to make any message board more interesting.  But even "simple" topics like "OT: I'm thinking of majoring in Chem Eng, what are the long-term prospects for the industry, is this a smart choice?" or "OT: my 2-year-old son is a terror, when does this stage end?!?!?" can be dangerous.

 

 Chime in on those topics and if you give 1-2 details, people could know (a) where you live, (b) where you work,and (c) details about your family.  Deviants could then trace your identity fairly quickly.  I got outed on a Penn State message board 6 months ago, as I think back it's primarily because of posting in off-topics like the above.  I learned my lesson quick.

 

Anyway, I get that Schilling's proud --- and he should be!!!  But unfortunately it's probably wiser to save it for his Facebook friends (that number is hopefully <100K!).

jmdblue

March 2nd, 2015 at 11:25 AM ^

when I said Schilling was "wrong" I was referring not to his morality in congratulating his girl, but to his very poor parenting choice of putting her out there in his Twitter feed.  

Don't know if you read Schilling's blog post, but he said he's hated by Democrats and Yankee fans.  I suspect he's also hated by the entire state of Rhode Island, many black folks, and many gay folks.  Hell, I don't like him and I'm none of these things.  I'm sure every tweet he sends gets lots of troll responses.  Adding his daughter to the mix is just a bad decision.  His response to the predictable outcome of his tweet?  A long blog post celebrating his badass self.

MGoBrewMom

March 2nd, 2015 at 12:20 PM ^

Curt Schilling calling them out is exactly what should have happened. Unfortunately for his daughter in this case, it draws attention to her, as a person. However, as a run of the mill mother, I am grateful for him taking this on. A noteable person calling these punks out and getting their ass in trouble is something to celebrate. Words like these guys used get used all the time, and women and girls just have to let it go, or roll with it, or ignore it. It is bullshit, and I am really glad he is proud of his daughter--and I'm glad he can say "yeah, I'm not always popular, but this is unacceptable", and track the goons down.

jmdblue

March 2nd, 2015 at 1:06 PM ^

although IMO the way in which he did it was all about him because everything is all about him.  The original mistake is he's a very famous person who has lots and lots of volatile detractors and he used Twitter to congratulate his daughter.  I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he was just proud of his daughter and wanted to acknowlede it publicly.  Even at that though, as a prominent person, he should not be twittering pics of his family.  It's looking for trouble.

sdogg1m

March 2nd, 2015 at 12:34 AM ^

If I tweeted to my child when she is old enough to have twitter then I would hope that it would be seen as communication between us. He also was making it public that he was proud of his daughter. It was completely fine. The issue is with being a celebrity, you open yourself up to all kinds of people and their issues. In some cases it's probably best just to keep the communication private.

JamieH

March 2nd, 2015 at 2:27 AM ^

The internet is just the window into the depths of depravity that has always existed there.  These assholes have always existed.  They just didn't have a public forum, or the ability to easily draw (usually) consequence free attention to themselves.

slimj091

March 2nd, 2015 at 4:37 AM ^

On the other hand if some white knights had their way simply saying that a woman is not physically appealing would be grounds for a felony charge.

I agree with you. Trolling is immature, and gets old fast.... but the last thing we need is for the internet to go to the other extreme, and turn into a church group.

jonvalk

March 2nd, 2015 at 12:21 PM ^

This. The worst part of the Internet is the places that cater to the depraved and sociopathic. There is so much fucked up stuff on the 'net that most of us never even knew existed. The sad thing is that the Internet gives a forum for those of a like demented mind to congregate and become even more deeply depraved by opening up their minds to not only their own sick fantasies, but those of the other sickos from all around the world.




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Lou MacAdoo

March 2nd, 2015 at 10:12 AM ^

There's good and evil in this world. If you're on the good side act like it. If you're evil you can't help yourself. Maybe these trolls are evil or maybe they're just lost. Either way anyone can access the internet and our constitution says that they can say what they want. I like what Curt did because he's calling it out and those that are trolling under their real name are either evil or lost. Maybe this will help those that are lost figure it out. And maybe it will make the internet a better place. I doubt it though. It is what it is.

jmdblue

March 2nd, 2015 at 10:49 AM ^

The short answer is we shouldn't let them dictate anything.  The more nuanced answer includes "but how far are we gonna go to prevent it?" . Certainly family members of famous people are subjected to horrible threats, character assassination etc.  Presidential children come to mind.  Electronic media both expands the numbers of commentators, and amplifies their voices.  You don't see the Obama's or the Bush's tweeting things about their kids.  There is a reason for this.

You can't stop a dirtbag from being a dirtbag, but it's relatively easy to keep them out of your life. If Curt Schilling really "got it" like he repeatedly says he does, he would, as a controversial celebrity, keep his family and his electronic media persona separate.  

Bodogblog

March 2nd, 2015 at 12:45 PM ^

Your suggestion is something that's really not the same, and bolsters my comparison. 

You propose shuttering up your sentiment in the digital world, where I compare that to shuttering yourself up in the real world.  I don't think either make sense.  Otherwise, what use do you have for these worlds?  And I would not suggest you post your personal information in the digital world, just as I would not suggest going outside into a crowded public space and yelling it out loud or writing it on a wall.  That would be foolish in either world. 

But congratulating your daughter on twitter and posting your bank account numbers is not the same.  The former is really a large part of what social media is for, the latter would obviously be a silly thing for you to do. 

jmdblue

March 2nd, 2015 at 11:13 AM ^

to get murdered.  Your murderer bears full moral responsiblility.  But you can take steps to avoid certain areas that you know to be dangerous.  If you're dead, well, you're dead, and who's to blame isn't so important.  Curt Schilling took no such steps when Tweeting about his daughter. 

Wendyk5

March 2nd, 2015 at 12:43 PM ^

It would be a different story if he was congratulating her on her first SI swimsuit cover. In that case, she's objectifying herself, putting herself out there for mens' sexual fantasies. Not that I would agree with the comments, but I think that's a case of "Well, what do you expect?" This is different. This is a girl who looks like she plays softball. Where is the connection to sex? Because she's female? And don't tell me that's just how it goes, because that argument opens the door for any and all anti-social behavior.

jmdblue

March 2nd, 2015 at 1:18 PM ^

tweet congratulations to his girl with no repercussions whatsoever, but the fact is he can't.  No matter how wrong the outcome was it was completely predictable.  It's Schilling's job to protect his daughter.  Tweeting pics of her, no matter how innocent, is failing at this task.

This isn't about sex (except for the added level of disgust it entails). If he tweeted pics of one of his boys I'm sure the commentary would have been "can't wait to see him up at school so me and my boyz can chain his bitch-ass  to a urinal".  

I'm not opening the door to antisocial behavior or excusing it or forgiving it.  Just acknowledging it's out there and famous people like Schilling need to behave accordingly, at least so far as their families are concerned.

Wendyk5

March 2nd, 2015 at 1:45 PM ^

I (respectfully) still don't buy that argument. If I'm going to expend any energy on this story at all, it will be to chastise those who tweeted the remarks, and judge them, not Schilling. Sure the internet has evils. At least once a year, I get a call from my credit card company telling me that some guy in Slovakia tried to buy a big screen TV using my credit card number. And that's because I do most of my shopping online, putting myself and my card number at risk. I know the hackers are out there, and I suppose I could stop shopping on the internet but I don't because why should I? The energy in my situation should be put towards stopping the hackers, not persuading me to stop shopping online. 

ShruteBeetFarms

March 2nd, 2015 at 11:38 AM ^

There are many ways of protection in real life. Unless you walk into the city by yourself at 3 am shouting out that you are carrying $1000 in your purse. Until we have an internet police, people should use discretion about posting personal stuff that is dear to them. We're all vulnerable to the creeps.