If you think this is funny you are an idiot

The blogosphere is passionately debating Kathy Sierra’s death threats and misogynous bashing at the defunct meankids.org.

Kathy is mourning the loss of her normal self.

I have cancelled all speaking engagements.

I am afraid to leave my yard.

I will never feel the same. I will never be the same.

Some have decided they won’t talk about it, because nothing makes a troll happier than fame. Others have written beautiful and touching posts about it.

I will never forget the descriptions of how me and my friends were to be raped. And Kathy will never forget the descriptions of how she was to be harmed. That’s what it means to be terrorized. How can we live in a community that permits that? How can we allow spaces like that to foster under the guise of “free speech”? We have a responsibility, a moral responsibility, to help generate spaces that breed tolerance, to speak out in support of those around us, and to bite our tongues rather than spit hatred when we’re frustrated.

The web debates who is to blame. Of course the people who wrote the threats and posted the pictures are to blame. And yet, those who created the space for hate and violence, those who set up the chemistry experiment that got explosive—people who are considered smart and accomplished because they understand social dynamics on the web—should think hard about what happened and about the human consequences (even indirect) of their actions.

Hurting people is way too easy, and there is nothing remarkable about it. It’s just sad and despicable. [If you are curious about meankids.org, you can still find cached pages on Google. But I warn you, you’ll be disappointed: it’s really boring reading.]

If you think about it, Kathy Sierra has been harassed because of who she is, what she says and writes. Wake up! This is not funny: this is dangerous. It attacks and destroys the very essence of the freedom of speech you are hiding behind. If you think this is a funny, innocent game you are an idiot.

UPDATE: Read few more blogs. Some “balanced” people write: sure, being threatened and insulted is not nice, but it comes with the territory and we need to preserve freedom of speech on the web. Besides, you cannot be responsible of what people write on your blog.

I say: this is true and bullshit at the same time. Freedom of speech is essential, but viciously attacking somebody for what they write—or worse, who they are—is a limitation of their freedom of speech. The more I think about it, the more I agree with danah boyd: this is an issue of social responsibility.

There are people and there are principles: I’ve always distrusted those who put principles above people. “Sorry, Kathy, but you are less important than freedom of speech. Your feelings, your life, even your right to express yourself, is less important than this abstract idea. Get over it.” You know in your heart that if this is true, we have failed.

Should Kathy have refrained from naming names? Perhaps. For one, it would have saved her some grief. Some of the people she mentioned by name seem to be very weakly connected, if at all, with the site. So, we are back to the beginning: we may not have the legal responsibility to be respectful to others, but we do have the social responsibility to think about the consequences that our words and actions have on other people.

4/2/07 Update: Kathy Sierra and Chris Locke write a “coordinated statement” in preparation of their CNN interview.