This week I didn’t get to watch so much of the news just because of how busy I was getting settled with my new job and trying to figure out how to manage my time. But there is one thing that I saw that really stuck out to me that I have a strong feeling about.
Ashley Judd’s Act Against Twitter Trolls
I’m going to be honest. I didn’t even know who Ashley Judd was before this news came out the other day, but that doesn’t mean it should’ve happened to her, let alone anyone else. A few days ago, Ashley Judd was at a college basketball game watching her favorite team play. She’s a fan who likes to live-tweet the games (I’m guilty as well, if you just check my twitter feed to the left) and probably does so because it’s in the heat of the moment and she’s either really excited or really angry and has to let it out.
With that being said, she tweeted about how the other team was playing dirty. What happened next is incredible to me. Immediately, people began tweeting awful things to her, basically harassing her and then threatening rape and sexual violence.
All. Because. Of. A. Basketball. Tweet.
This blows my mind. Why should she have to put up with this? She was a survivor of rape and incest. I can’t even imagine how she felt after these insulting tweets came flying in her mentions. No one should have to relive a traumatic experience in their life, yet she was forced to because of the ignorant and vile people who tweeted those things to her.
What I want to know is why those people think it’s okay to threaten someone with violence. Even if it is over social media, that doesn’t make it okay. Who knows, those people who threatened with sexual violence could be one of those people who were never caught raping or physically hurting other women.
I really hope she gets justice and that everyone who threatened her is at least fined. If law enforcement lets this slide, it’s just one more thing that people know that they can get away with. Sure, it may be over the Internet, but it’s no different if someone made a raunchy or threatening comment in public, especially if it was about rape.
Basically, women (and men) should be able to Tweet, post, or say anything they want and not receive such backlash because of it, especially in the form of violence. Violence never was and never will be okay, so why should it be supported over the Internet?
Share your thoughts on this! Have you ever been threatened online? What do you think law enforcement should do in this case? Should those people who threatened Ashley Judd be fined? How far is too far in terms of what you can post online?
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