I had Death Threats in High School

agreed, chris. however, when people are using the internet to hide, unlike your bully (and any number of my own personal bullies from school), it is a scary thing.

“The problem isn’t with the blogosphere - it’s with the human race.”

So true. It isn’t a matter of anonymity, either.

Same for me … until i was 15 i was short and fat … over the summer i grew 7 inches (in 2 months) … all the weight was now in the right place and i was looking them in the eyes …. they weren’t looking back …

It takes along time to build self esteem … one second to loose it …

Never suffer the bully … it does last a lifetime

Agreed Chris but like a wonderful party with awesome friends, good food, great beats and brilliant conversation .. it only takes one really ****** foulmouthed psychotic to crash through to TOTALLY ruin the mood.

It’s not just about a single incident , it’s about the fact that we all realise that blogging has now passed the invisible threshold and integrated with the rest of the human race.. with all of its potentially smelly citizens to affront the happy playground that once was the blogosphere.

I totally agree with you that this is a problem that does not just effect the web. This happens all over the globe in every level of society.

This does not mean that we ignore the problem either. I’m used to dealing with this issue between kids, but there are steps we can take to shed some light on this. Contacting the police, spreading the word, and pointing out internet BS that can lead to this kind of behavior.

I think the blogosphere needs to focus less on the outrage and look at how we interact and how we can foster more positive interaction.

Great Post.

I haven’t had to deal with death threats. But I was sure the odd man (woman) out in junior high and high school. The only person with a disability in a small midwest town. Felt like an outcast…and bullied.

That way I never left southern Illinois after college. More accepting of others.

Very, very, very well put. I also agree, not to at all “minimize this particular situation” you are right that the guy or girl who seems to be inadequate in the minds of some people who think they are adequate were once insulted with words like nerd and geek. As well as being looked upon as a deficiency when it came to the cool crowd. But nowadays that is changing. Because it is the nerds and geeks who were once being subjected to fear tactics who are now standing up for those who are unaware of their rights in society through blogging and closing the gap of ignorance in the knowledge of technology, i.e. the internet. It is possible that nerds and geeks are the ones who have made such threats in their lifetime. But I won’t give that credit to the nerd and geek in them for doing this, unfortunately it’s the heartless, unethical, immoral individual who deserves the credit. As a woman I do understand Kathy Sierra’s fears and it becomes worse the more you soak it in. I hope the community of bloggers, videobloggers, photobloggers, podcasters, techies, news givers, news seekers, the human race step up and show that these actions are not tolerated and as well the law shows it is not blind.

[...] Chris Pirillo points out that bullies have always been a factor in real life, so the shocked reaction of the blogosphere seems out of whack. [...]

Hi Chris,

I think the problem that Kathy and other bloggers are dealing with here is a bit more than bullying. It’s the level of bullying and the enormity of it. It used to be you were picked on by “known” bullies: people who you went to school, work, whatever with. You might have feared these people but you knew or had some feeling about how far they might go to harm you. You had the local rumor mill.

When someone threatens you anonymously online, you don’t have that kind of information. Are they some sick pervert that lives 10,000 miles away and really can’t do much harm to you or are they that creepy next door neighbor who’s always giving you strange looks? Are they just trying to scare you or would they really be willing to drive across the country to cut your head of and spit down the hole? You just don’t know.

And that’s why it’s different.

With the known bullies you can more easily protect yourself. But with unknown bullies, you have no idea who they are so..who do you protect yourself from? Everyone? Anyone? You just don’t know.

As someone who spent the better part of a year being stalked by a strange Internet person, I can tell you it is the most frightening experience of your life. I was bullied in school but it was NOTHING like what I experienced during that year. I was suspicious of everyone. I was paranoid. It nearly ruined my life.

So, no, I think the blogosphere is reacting just about right to this. We need to support Kathy during this time and we need to re-educate ourselves on how vulnerable we really are as bloggers.

I think you’re a little off on this one. But great post nonetheless. Very eyeopening.

i’m not happy with the statement that “it will never EVER stop.” we really don’t know what WILL happen. what we can do, though, is to clearly and loudly express our unwillingness to accept such behaviour. in meatspace and in the blogosphere. and there are many ways we can do this. one of them is to rally around someone like kathy at a time like this.

and let’s not forget that bullying doesn’t come out of nowhere, either. bullying is nurtured in an atmosphere of disrespect and intolerance. every day we have many opportunities to demonstrate the opposite: respect, tolerance and compassion.

the dalai lama says, “be compassionate whenever possible. it is always possible.”

Mmmmm…it’s true you are not a woman, or a mother, and you don’t know how Kathy feels. Yes, it’s the human race, but there’s a certain transparency involved in living your life on the Internet that didn’t used to be there in high school (well, I’m old). I just think it makes us all look like high school to have this kind of thing happening, and I wish we could just stop and be the citizen journalists and community-oriented people we want to be.

[...] Source: chris.pirillo.com [...]

One reason small towns have a “safe” label applied to them is that everybody knows everybody, and nobody has any privacy. But even in a large city, you don’t have privacy. One can walk from Boston to Washington, being photographed by security cameras every inch of the way. And that’s not counting the satellites.

Privacy advocates seem to want to make the world safe for those who want to make the world unsafe. The lack of privacy doesn’t mean that you’re less free to drive 90 MPH, less free to Love Thy Neighbor, less free to grow dope in the back yard. All those things happen in small towns, and nobody cares.

But they do care about their neighbors. If Joe repeatedly gets drunk and beats up his wife, pretty soon no bar in town will sell to him.

That doesn’t happen where people are anonymous.

A few years ago, a bunch of kids, tired of being abused by bullies, took guns to school, and fought back. What was the official response? Nothing was done about the bullying; instead, they installed metal detectors at Columbine.

There are a few good uses for internet anonymity. There are online support groups for alcoholics, for the abused, etc. In general, though, those places have their own rules that provide even more security, not less.

I wouldn’t suggest curtailing free speech. Just “ownerless” speech. Evil lies in the dark corners.

[...] Update #4: Both Jim Kukal and Chris Pirillo point out that this type of behavior happens away from the blogosphere as well (even if it happened to you in high school or some online forum it still doesn’t make it right) [...]

[...] http://chris.pirillo.com/2007/03/26/i-had-death-threats-in-high-school/ [...]

[...] Kathy Sierra is an intelligent, warm, wonderful member of the tech community. It’s absolutely reprehensible that someone would stoop to such a level as to threaten someones life because they don’t like what they have to say. It’s also sad that some well respected people in the tech community don’t seem to understand the enormity of this situation. [...]

[...] Some more thoughts: Chris Pirillo is right, the problem is not the Blogosphere, it’s Us, the people. Eric Eggerston is also right, this is really nothing new; this sick vitriol is unfortunately too common on political sites, bulletin-board systems, and the old Mac vs. PC forums. That’s pretty sad. [...]

Yeah, this whole situation is kind of blown out of proportion. I would think anyone who has had a presence (own a web site, blog, etc.) on the internet long enough has at least had one death threat.

I think Scoble owes Kevin Rose an apology for pointing blame in his direction… Kevin didn’t leave death threats…some whacko did! Hell, why not point blame at Kathy’s hosting company.

It’s also easy to forget that the world is full of real life axe murderers, etc… and if you put yourself out in public it is a risk. I think the smart thing to do is use a stage name for yourself and hide your whois info. This is something I’ve seriously been considering.

It’s beyond me why bloggers like Dooce continuously blog such private info about their personal life and family to millions of people. If this was a perfect world you wouldn’t have to worry about it… but turn on the news on any day and you can see that isn’t the case.

[...] I had Death Threats in High School  by Chris Pirillo [...]

[...] A Rape in Cyberspace: for all those upset about Kathy Sierra’s situation, I suggest you read this article and then get on with your life. This is not new, and it sucks when it happens but let me reiterate: THIS IS NOT NEW. All those trying for sympathetic link-bait (Scoble, talking about you) are feeding a problem that really is endemic to this form of communication. I like what Chris Pirillo said, all this is, is political posturing on the part of those that want to ride a sympathy train. Its not genuine. Its not heart-felt, its the same oroborus circle jerking that leads to this problem in the first place. [...]

[...] Bullying has been with the human race as face back as Og stealing Ug’s flint. The internet just gives it a little anonymity and instills a cluster dynamic that extends across time zones. Kathy Sierra — "As I Type This" Robert Scoble — "I am taking the week off. I am physically ill after reading about what happened to Kathy Sierra."Maryam Scoble — "I am deeply disturbed, saddened and angry."Chris Pirillo — "I had death threats in high school." [...]

[...] Chris Pirillo points out that bullies have always been a factor in real life, so the shocked reaction of the blogosphere seems out of whack. [...]

[...] Zunächst die Fakten: Kathy Sierra, Autorin des lesenswerten Blogs Passionate, hat ihre Keynote bei der diesjährigen ETech kurzfristigst abgesagt. Das ist ungewöhnlich, denn Sierra gilt als verlässlich, kompetent und überaus sympathisch. Noch ungewöhnlicher ist der Grund für diese Absage. Ungewöhnlich und ungewöhnlich widerlich. Sierra erhält seit Wochen Todesdrohungen und misogyne Beleidigungen - direkt über die Kommentarfunktion ihres Blogs. Neu ist nicht, dass Menschen so etwas tun. Das ist banal. Neu ist, dass eines der direktesten uns bekannten Medien dazu genutzt wird. Allerdings nicht für Chris Pirillo. [...]

Chris, I wrote all that BEFORE I had seen what they wrote about Maryam. It is TOTALLY VILE, VILE STUFF.

If they wrote what they wrote about Maryam about Ponzi you’d be over the top pissed.

I want a public apology from everyone involved in the MeanKids.org site. This stuff was done to hurt, and hurt deep.

Well, they deserve every bit of public scorn that they now are getting.

Not much else to say here but I’ll say something anyway. What’s difficult with stalkers you can’t find or anonymous bloggers is that you can’t fight back. There’s nothing to fight back against UNLESS you find them.

So, as I see it, you could try to find them, then push them back as Chris did. Maybe that will work. It’s certainly part of the mythos of American culture that most bullies will back down when confronted. That’s what my father taught me but the guys who bullied me in Jr. High were twice as big as me, many times stronger and came in twos. But some bullies don’t back down. And some are so sick that they will then try to kill you.

But this is a serious situation and though I’m not normally a tough law and order type of guy, I certainly could see getting these people thrown in jail for this type of offense. I don’t know whether that will turn their life around when they are then, hopefully, educated to see how serious their crime is. But ignoring it only ends up with either the bullied bruised or killed or with the bullied then seeking revenge against anything and everyone that ignored their plight one way or another - Columbine or Pearl Jam’s Jeremy.

Been there and worn that tee-shirt as well Chris. I agree totally with your sentiment. Not to belittle Kathy’s situation, but I’m betting she wasn’t bullied at school or in the workplace at any point. This is probably her first encounter with the lowest of human parasites and this is why she is so alarmed.

The chances are that the hate filled posts aren’t truly anonymous since Kathy shows the IP details of posts. Of course, illegal or spoofing tricks could have been made to ensure they were truly anonymous, but I suspect the dimwitts aren’t that bright, although over the coming weeks they may well wish they had been just a touch cleverer in their comment postings. Their IPs can be traced, their computers siezed and forensic evidence collected to build a case fit for pursuing in any court.

Those of us who’ve had physical harm done in the real world, those of us who’ve sat in class for year upon year worrying about what they next had planned, those of us who’ve survived this behaviour don’t find this such a big story as the media are making out.

Go to any school playground and you will see some poor kid being terrorised and bullied. Visit many workplaces and you’re likely to find some employee being threatened. This is the real tragedy of the human condition!

The real danger in this frenzy is that the lawmakers use this as yet another reason to seize further control of the Internet. Let’s not make the job easier for them when they should be concentrating on stamping out bullying from the human condition, starting way back in school playgrounds!

As for Scoble turn off his blog and blocking comments in sympathy… well so what! That guy is going to desperate measure these days to maintain his readership. He’s not been the same since leaving Microsoft IMHO.

I also meant to add that Kathy’s bullies have won! They have managed to terrorise her into reclusion. She would have been better to ensure security measures were adequate for her to continue with her life and show the bullies that she wasn’t for playing their game. Sure it can be scary facing up to the bullies, but it must be just as scary to be hold up in your home waiting for them to come get you.

Also meant to add that the BBC website had an article dedicated to it and Scoble even got a mention in it! What’s wrong with the BBC? Couldn’t they find a UK based blogger to make comment on this terrible situation.

Freedom of speech ends when it is a threat to someone else’s life. THAT is not freedom of speech. Whether there is ever intent of actually following through with the actions or not, it is wrong.

I agree, it is a lot like high school - or junior high in my case - which was HELL. Grown adults should know better, and there is NO excuse for the behavior of the people behind this. Think it, say it over coffee to your friends, whatever - but you take it to a whole new level - a very WRONG level - when you start up a blog just to be cruel.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. The whole thing just is wrong.

[...] - Kathy Sierra original post - Rageboy response - Pirillo’s thoughts [...]

[...] - Speaking of working together, I am still aghast over what has been going on in the blogosphere lately. Once again, I agree with Erica’s sentiments on this (not shocking, since we discussed it last night before she wrote that post). Put positive energy out there in the world. I have to say, I agree with Chris Pirillo too. Mean people suck. [...]

[...] Threats should be acted upon to an extent - of course - but I think Chris has the right of it: The amazing thing isn’t that such vileness exists in the world. That’s just the horrible part. The amazing part is that it comes as a surprise to anyone. That may well be the definition of luxury. [...]

Ones who don’t hide are easier to deal with.

Given the right tools, the victim can turn the tables on the bully and dictate the rules. Enough is enough; if they can dish out, they better be able to take it.

Bullies thrive on fear, but fear is something that can turn them off. By changing your image, you can change hoe they perceive you. If they see you as someone able to fight back, they will back down, or at least that was my experience.

I got tired of being bullied, enrolled in a martial arts programme, and within two months rumours turned the bullies who used to harass me back and by the end of grade nine I had them kissing the ground I walked on. I didn’t threaten, just changed the way I carried my air of confidence.

Rumour are a powerful tool.

The human race is scary. If I was an alien, I wouldn’t even set foot on the planet. I probably wouldn’t mind killing them from afar… since they kill themselves for no reason anyway.

We are the only creatures on this planet that destroy for self mental satisfaction.

in hell, there’s nothing more to lose… it’s worse than hell here sometimes. And sometimes we do get a glimpse of heaven.. only to be quickly taken away.

Great post, Chris. The problem is everywhere and your experience in HS resonates with me… not everyone was a football jock.

John

[...] The outpouring of support for Kathy has been substantial - but a lot of it seems to be knee-jerk / reactionary. Kathy is *NOT* overreacting to her situation in the slightest, but I do believe that the rest of us simply aren’t putting it into perspective. [...]

[...] I had Death Threats in High School by Chris Pirillo [...]

[...] [...]

of the discussion seems based on the idea that what happened to Kathy is somehow unusual. The sexual aspect of the attacks on Kathy is bizarre but campaigns of death threats are far from unusual in our society. The first post I saw to nail this is the I had death threats in high school blog entry. Death threats and campaigns of intimidation are standard practice in most high schools. After children are taught that such things are OK for six years straight it’s hardly a surprise that some of them act in the same manner outside school!

corners of the blogosphere, some have suggested that Kathy over-reacted to the attacks and although none of us can judge others’ levels of psychological trauma, I tend to agree. Shocking as words and images can be, they are, after all, words. As Chris Pirillo noted in his post, “This isn’t new, folks - far from it. Kathy is just one out of (certainly) millions of people who suffer at the minds of psychotics. And without trying to minimize this particular situation, I’ve gotta tell you - this sounds

of the discussion seems based on the idea that what happened to Kathy is somehow unusual. The sexual aspect of the attacks on Kathy is bizarre but campaigns of death threats are far from unusual in our society. The first post I saw to nail this is the I had death threats in high school blog entry. Death threats and campaigns of intimidation are standard practice in most high schools. After children are taught that such things are OK for six years straight it’s hardly a surprise that some of them act in the same manner outside school!

of the discussion seems based on the idea that what happened to Kathy is somehow unusual. The sexual aspect of the attacks on Kathy is bizarre but campaigns of death threats are far from unusual in our society. The first post I saw to nail this is the I had death threats in high school blog entry. Death threats and campaigns of intimidation are standard practice in most high schools. After children are taught that such things are OK for six years straight it’s hardly a surprise that some of them act in the same manner outside school!

). In reaction to these threats, Sierra has canceled a trip to the ETech conference that’s on now, and called off a presentation she was scheduled to give. Is the blogosphere unsafe? Is it hostile to women? As Chris Pirillo writes, “The problem isn’t with the blogosphere. It’s with the human race.” That’s indeed the core problem. But the Internet amplifies human behavior. With it, bullies and psychotics have an easy-to-access, free, and anonymous channel to lob their fear bombs

of the discussion seems based on the idea that what happened to Kathy is somehow unusual. The sexual aspect of the attacks on Kathy is bizarre but campaigns of death threats are far from unusual in our society. The first post I saw to nail this is the I had death threats in high school blog entry. Death threats and campaigns of intimidation are standard practice in most high schools. After children are taught that such things are OK for six years straight it’s hardly a surprise that some of them act in the same manner outside school!

[...] Chris Pirillo puts some perspective on the whole Kathy Sierra death threats meme. I totally avoided the issue in my post on Scoble’s chicken reaction at 901am because it’s difficult to talk about perspective when some one is legitimately upset about what has happened (as I have no doubt that Sierra is) without sounding like you’re either denigrating the victim or siding with the people making the death threats. [...]

[...] I am glad that this whole thing has people talking and thinking about it. I am glad it has gotten people’s attention. I think it is great that people are thinking about it. Now, as my post yesterday mentioned, we need to find a way to put some positive karma back out into the world. What are we going to do about this? Beyond education, is there anything we CAN do about it? Because as Chris Pirillo pointed out, this isn’t unique to teh internets - it happens in real life too. [...]

I had Death Threats in High School (Chris Pirillo) The iGizmodo splogger rant (The Blog Herald) I’ve Got No Sympathy For Mean Kids (The Blog Herald)

Interesting post, and ditto for the comments. Japan is considered a safe country. I was discussing large cities with a fellow teacher, in the wake of this week’s murder of a young female English teacher by a student, who buried her body in sand in his bath before fleeing his apartment. In many Western cities, safe and unsafe depend on physical, tangible, things: place, what you drive or wear, and who you are with. We learn easily to avoid carrying expensive items in public, or avoid areas known to be unsafe. In Japan, on the contrary, with the large number of mentally unstable people, it is much harder to be sure where and when one is safe, and this puts a lot of pressure on already stressed-out people, further driving up the number of mental cases.

Will this story get connected to Second Life once that hype wave turns? Forgetting the rest of the world. Such a story depends in part on painting the blogosphere as an exception to other media and community rules. As Ronni Bennett and Chris Pirillo point out, death threats happen to many people, both through media and in person. (Will I have to add that this observation does not in any way mitigate the nature of the threats, and the psychological harm they brought about?)

on her blog. These events and their very serious consequences are posted about here. Naff comments and spam are one thing, but in the ephemeral and sometimes lite and frothy world of blogging, there’s shock and surprise. Unpleasant though it maybe, some argue that because this sort of thing happens anyway, in life, it’s inevitable that it’ll happen on blogs from time to time. Are we moving away from the naïve view that everything to do with social networking is innocent fun? Utopian ideals are one

[...] Big Stink In Little China Yesterday (Tuesday, now that I post this) was kind of a gaggy day, in this little corner of the web. And it is little. I’m not sure some of the well-known bloggers involved really comprehend that. Least of all, the perps of Tuesday’s big stink.I’m not even going to bother to preface this with all the “I identify with you as a woman” ****, because that should be a given. Not that there were many givens—which are, after all, the product of trust—around yesterday.What showed up instead, en masse, was a lot of ego-underbelly. The dark side of narcissism. Disowned, projected content, with that fabulous mob-mentality willingness to point the finger.Finger, what am I saying. They named names, numbers, URLs. People, read my lips: this is something healthy adults do not do.And you could count them on one hand, the adults.As to the many “friends” who rushed to defend Kathy … WT F were you thinking? Are people so bloody eager to belong, so profoundly immature … it disheartens me. That’s not support, it’s not friendship, and certainly not what a person in trauma needs, idjits! Get a clue, read a book, something!Apparently, we must also review basic civil rights: No one is free to accuse a suspected other in public this way, name names, organize vendettas or any other similar damn thing … unless, of course, you believe in vigilante justice. So crude, so not nice.No matter how very special you are. No matter, even, if disgusting things have been posted about your wife—outrage, yes. Posses, no. Let me see, also bandied about by some leading lights were: vilification,isolation, shunning … prison, FCS. Them’s some mighty big underbellies. Some mighty brave pajama people.Now we come to the nub of things. Miss Tara Rogue Hunt’s blog, where I had wandered onto the comment thread that fateful afternoon.”If you are part of the swarm of mean kids that come around to just be disruptive without making a point, you will be deleted. Say what you came to say … you aren’t clever. You are mean.”Talk about riveting. Instantly, the discussion became like one of those accident scenes where everything unfolds in slow-motion, with sirens and flashing lights just around the corner.And Miss Tara Rogue soon got down to her nub.”I don’t want to sound like Oprah or any of these really slimy things the “guffaw brigade” is indicating below (they remind me of the mean kids in high school who used to draw pictures of me with zits all over and laugh at my expense) … I guess I want us to get real and human.”A many-headed nub, as nubs so often are, and we ought not to be surprised. That is compassion, not the rush to fawn, but letting people speak for themselves—and listening. Carefully.Tuesday night’s Dan Fost Tech Chronicles column: (revised, small mercies, for Wednesday’s paper)”Tara Hunt, of San Francisco, who had been the original target of Locke’s ‘Mean Kids’ site (she had coined the term after getting flamed for suggesting that companies need to find a ‘higher purpose’) …”Which isn’t quite true, or factual. Is it. Clearly that’s how you felt; the astonishing thing (do I need to say this?) is the latitude you cut for yourself as a result. “‘Chris Locke is a sad soul who blames the world for his lack of success,’ Hunt said when I reached her on the phone today. ‘He’s constantly broke and angry. He calls himself rageboy. All that anger makes him very hard to work with.’”Without condescension, Tara Rogue, but because this is somewhat within my purview, I offer you one thought: Stop all that ******* Twittering and get your *** into therapy.No one acts out that dramatically and harmfully to another who has integrated their dark side … and the dark side is what this is really all about.p.s. “Guffaw brigade” is a really witty start.Labels: adulthood, blogging, kathy sierra, mean kids, projective identification, rageboy, tara hunt, vigilante justice [...]

in digital format, video surveillance can be sent further, processed quicker, and stored for longer periods of time, than traditional media makes practical today. Beyond fraud and theft, this kind of solution could also help identify bullies who make death threats in High School. [IMG]technorati tags: IBM, digital video surveillance, DVS, bullies, Chris Pirillo, Kathy Sierra, death threats, retail, public, financial services, disk, tape, VHS, analog

It wasn’t ok in high school and it isn’t ok now. As far as I know, no one involved in Kathy’s situation is in high school. Shouldn’t we have learned something by now about how to treat people with respect? I think that’s what Kathy was getting at when she said that the culture of the blogosphere needs to be re-examined. Whether the people she called out directly are responsible for the threats or not, they do play a role in defining that culture. If you think it’s ok to allow this kind of bullying to take place, you are part of the problem.

As we can all see by the level of trash-talking that she has received by going public with this, it took a lot of balls for Kathy to post what she did.

Online/offline - it makes no difference in how a threat impacts someone. The internet is real life. It’s time we all start treating it that way.

Problem’s with the human race as it’s now configured. Which is not to say being bullied by a sabertooth tiger or some kind of shadowy night-stalking carnivorous giant ground sloth was a walk in the park.
We’ve created a refuge from the carnal flux of metabolizing that is the natural world red in tooth claw and intention. But within that refuge things aren’t all nice and sweet for everyone. A higher percentage than it used to be maybe, and from that higher percentage come these cries of outrage at what most kids on the bottom rungs of the economy deal with all the time.
Lots of calls for the officially designated agencies to step in, something missing from your post is that option, snitching off the perpetrators, which it seems you didn’t pursue.
And it’s tangential but interesting that those same official agencies get their mandate from a government that right now is doing large violence to people, many of them relatively or entirely innocent and helpless, and threatening more of the same to others.
Of course that would be happening somewhere else, some place almost virtual in its distance from the day-to-day of those most outraged by the scurrilous treatment of Ms. Sierra.
In Sierra’s case it’s been by anonymous cowards.
Which is key. Not the anonymity, but the safety it entrails for what are already cowardly souls.
Bullies are essentially, most of the time, cowards who feel safe.
Cowards who feel safe are almost always prone to sadistic cruelty.
And cowardice is really the issue, all the way around.

[...] http://chris.pirillo.com/2007/03/26/i-had-death-threats-in-high-school/ [...]

[...] The prominent blogger and author Kathy Sierra has recently cancelled a tutorial at a conference after receiving death threats.Obviously this is a matter for the police to investigate - and the matter has been reported to them.It’s also an issue that is causing a lot of discussion on the net. The strange thing is that a large portion of the discussion seems based on the idea that what happened to Kathy is somehow unusual. The sexual aspect of the attacks on Kathy is bizarre but campaigns of death threats are far from unusual in our society. The first post I saw to nail this is the I had death threats in high school blog entry. Death threats and campaigns of intimidation are standard practice in most high schools. After children are taught that such things are OK for six years straight it’s hardly a surprise that some of them act in the same manner outside school!But I don’t expect anything to change. Columbine apparently didn’t convince anyone who matters that there is a serious problem in high-schools, I don’t expect anything else to.I can clearly remember when I first heard about the Columbine massacre, a colleague told me about it and explained that he barracked for the killers due to his own experiences at high-school. While my former colleague probably had not given his statements much consideration, any level of support for serial-killers is something to be concerned about.This is not to trivialise Kathy’s experience. But I think that discussion should be directed at more fundamental problems in society instead of one of the symptoms. If the causes are not addressed then such things will keep happening. [...]

the Teaching for the Future Podcast. Today’s episode I’m going to reflect on my year about podcasting about education and how a lot of the issues we talk about here are recursive and seem to keep popping up. Thanks to Chris Penn for the Intro. NEWS: I had death threats in high school by Chris Pirillo: Do unchecked bullies grow up to be unchecked bullies? Dude’s Cyber Girlfriend Actually a Dude from DailyGaming.net: I think this is a story as old as the internet, and illustrates how you can be anyone on the internet.

[...] Chris Pirillo [...]

[...] Times do change, and in this country, the USA, it is still a criminal offense to make a death threat. They do go on, however, as Chris Prillo points out: It’s worse when you know who that person is - or if they’re not all that anonymous in the first place. I’ve dealt with my fair share of bullies (both before and after high school) - and in a few cases, was able to weather the situations long enough to seek some sort of resolution with the other parties. [...]

involved. Sometimes, as it happens in other countries, it is usually the police the one issuing the threats! Times do change, and in this country, the USA, it is still a criminal offense to make a death threat. They do go on, however, as Chris Prillo points out: It’s worse when you know who that person is - or if they’re not all that anonymous in the first place. I’ve dealt with my fair share of bullies (both before and after high school) - and in a few cases, was able to weather the situations long enough to

[...] It’s also an issue that is causing a lot of discussion on the net. The strange thing is that a large portion of the discussion seems based on the idea that what happened to Kathy is somehow unusual. The sexual aspect of the attacks on Kathy is bizarre but campaigns of death threats are far from unusual in our society. The first post I saw to nail this is the I had death threats in high school blog entry. Death threats and campaigns of intimidation are standard practice in most high schools. After children are taught that such things are OK for six years straight it’s hardly a surprise that some of them act in the same manner outside school! [...]