Do not engage, EXPOSE. AKA "Your words, MY choice". Plus, a handbook on how NOT to deal with trolls by the CCDH

DISCLAIMER: If you have already had enough of the disgusting incel festive reactions to the results of this elections, and you don't want to hear any more of it, I totally understand you. In this case you can skip it all and jump to the section after the "Don't feed the troll" image or directly to the CCDH handbook on how to protect yourself and not play the trolls game here: https://counterhate.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Dont-Feed-the-Trolls.pdf

Not even twenty four hours after the election results there's been a lovely rush of posts by extremely lovely people who hat couldn't wait to remind ourselvese how very lovely they were (how unexpected, right?). Our favorite Knight in a sh1tty armor was, unsurprisingly, the never really relevant but always pretty annoying Nick Fuentes, who couldn't resist to grace our eyes and ears with the very crafty motto 'YOUR BODY, MY CHOICE'.

The video accompaying this outburst of poetry was only a match for such a show of very strong, not hysterical or fragile masculinity showcase.

The always amazing Michael McWorther AKA @tizzyent exposed it on his IG channel here: https://www.instagram.com/tizzyent/reel/DCE9YnvuQaQ/ (I'm not going to share Fuentes' website or videos and I urge you to NOT go there and give him more exposure. I understand the curiosity and the urge to look at the void into its dead eyes, but you know, when the void looks back at you, you become another user who gave them more numbers on their YouTube channel. So please don't.)

And it gets even more disturbing.

Nick and his friends made it clear that their obession over controlling women's bodies is not only and not really about abortion and reproductive rights: IT'S ABOUT CONSENT, OR THE LACK OF and a huge WHO CARES ABOUT IT complete with flipping fingers.

A string of charming, VERY NOT INSECURE AT ALL, CLEARLY SUCCESSFUL AT RELATIONSHIPS MEN took it upon themselves to further clarify it.

Those unlucky women who stumbled upon these posts and dared to note that these guys sounded like they hadn't seen a vag1na since their mother popped them out (and with this behaviour were probably not going to see any for a while) received this chilling answer: IT DOESN'T MATTER ANYMORE WHETHER OR NOT YOU WANT IT. Some went even further, with pretty detailed descriptions on how they were going to make it happen (this came from a guy who claims to an "arm wrestler" - is that even a job?- who, by the way, apparently has two doughters whom I feel very worried about right now).

So, just in case anyone still had any doubts, IT WAS NEVER ABOUT "SAVING BABIES". IT WAS ALWAYS ABOUT CONTROLLING WOMEN AND TURNING THEM INTO POWERLESS PROPERTY.

Nothing new in the world of keyboard warriors who never feel they'll be held accountable for their actions.

Except they tend to forget that rhe internet is not their exclusive real and that their pack can only shield them when they organize their trolling.

It's important to remind ourselves when feeling overwhelmed by their vicious actions that the moment they're outside of their bubble these people are extremely fragile. And the funny thing is, they seem to never see it coming.

AND THE INTERNET CAN BE AN EXTREMELY INTERESTING PLACE (sometimes). In the span of a few hours, Fuente's home address was leaked - or to better say it, it was already out there, noone had to do anything illegal or violentily intruding, it was just a matter of sharing the information he had already publicly posted.

Now, I personally don't like it when anyone gets doxxed. It's scary and I do not agree with these things.

Thus said, I think it's also important to underline that nothing illegal or vicously trolling was done to him because, as much as we we'd all love to give them what they deserve (insert your wish here, I am your Santa's Official Mail service:______________), it is important to remind ourselves THAT WE ARE DIFFERENT FROM THEM NOT BECAUSE WE TO SAY IT, BUT BECAUSE WE ACT DIFFERENT.

Thus said, the reality checks were interesting: in a few hours, Fuentes' home was blurred on Google maps and he not only canlcelled his appearence on a show but also fled to an undisclosed location because apparently he is feeling violated, insecure and unsafe. Oh, really? TELL ME ABOUT IT.

Also, his social media handles, along with other gentlemen like the "arm wrestler" and others turned to private mode and don't have any posts. EXCEPT ON X (how strange!), where they keep their unmissable presence.

And, like someone said, YOUR WORDS, MY CHOICE. Very nicely put.

So maybe, there's already one lesson here: yes, the internet is a scary dark place full of trolls and bots, but like any other community, IT'S ALSO MADE OF PEOPLE. AND POEPLE (CAN) HAVE THE POWER, IF THEY GET ORGANIZED.

We need to find our community and build around it.

Us feeling lonely and lost is what gives them power.

DON'T FORGET YOU ARE NOT ALONE. NOT ON THE INTERNET, NOR IN THE REAL WORLD.

And as much as we all feel betrayed right now, we cannot let them win this too. We cannot distrust each other. We are here. And we are here for each other. Let's talk to each other instead of wasting our precious time with them.

And now let's see what the experts say more specifically. There's plenty info out there but I chose this source because it's very simple and quite handy. And apparently they bother people like Elon Musk A LOT, as you'll see.

Now, all this to say that when coming across an internet troll THE LAST THING TO DO is engage with them, even to troll them back. NEVER EVER ENGAGE.

So what, we just let them be?

Not necessarily.

Of course, the "Do not feed the troll" thing is way easier said than done, but it's possible.

And finally here's the good stuff (thank you for bearing with me!).

Luckily for us, institutions like the British-American CCDH (Center four Coutering the Digital Hate) has not only posted a handy guide on how to navigate the troll world, complete with their contats and an interesting bibliography of psychological and sociological resources, but has more info on their website and even a hotline.

And you when you know it's a good one? When Elon Musk tried suing them when they started exposing the skyrockeing hate speech and lies on X since his takeover (AND YES, THEY WON THE LAWSUIT).

The guide is linked at the top of this post, and I am also uploading it in pdf on this post . Their wesbite link here: https://counterhate.com/

Reserch shows that the hardest part when dealing with trolls is to deal with our own instinct to respond to provocatory fake news and inflammatory horrible statements, because that's how trolling works, according to their own handbook https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/01/15/inside-the-daily-stormers-style-guide (this is just an article about it from the NY Times, I'm not going to share the actual NeoNaz1 guide because WHAT ARE DOING, NOT PRACTICING WHAT WE PREACH?).

And this is good news, because trolling makes us feel powerless, but in truth IT'S OUR REACTION THAT GIVES THEM POWER. And if anything, learning to control our own impulses is a good thing, regardless what we decide to apply it to.

So, like the CCDH says, and like some amazing internet warrios already do, one thing you can do while not engaging with the trolls is you can EXPOSE them. Make screenshots, contact the authorities especially when it's something that may not be totally legal (like in these posts that lots of people consider inciting s3xual v1olence) and reach out to those who can help either with their own platform that already has enough structure to expose them without giving them the redundancy they are looking for (like @tizzyent, for instance, who's done an incredible job at finding and identifying people using the internet as a net of real people out there).

Some of them lost their jobs, some decided thet the taste of their own medicine wasn't really tasty, and some, like Fuentes, who are already much too powerful, will go on, but not totally unharmed by their own actions. And that's al least a start, since it is THE LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY THAT BROUGHT US WHERE WE ARE NOW.

And more than everything, if you ever feel lonely, or afraid, or betrayed. don't forget YOU ARE NOT ALONE. WE ARE ALL FEELING THE SAME.

There's healing in building and being in a community. Let's build one together and keep checking on each other.

Take care,

C.

Dont-Feed-the-Trolls.pdf

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