.
The trolls hide behind screens.
And I've wondered: If some of these online creeps were face-to-face with the woman they are trashing, looking into her eyes, rather than the glow of their phone or laptop, would the vicious words they type with such abandon actually leave their mouths?
Somehow, I don't think that would happen.
Advertisement
The website Just Not Sports took that on that challenge with a brilliant PSA they dropped Tuesday. It's similar to Jimmy Kimmel's celebrities reading mean tweets about themselves but with two sportswriters, Sarah Spain and Julie DiCaro.
Advertisement
First of all, these poor guys. They didn't know what they were in for.
Advertisement
The messages start out kinda meh, the kind of ribbing you accept as a columnist.
Advertisement
And that's the point.
Advertisement
Astonishingly, after I wrote about the heinous online slander directed at Virginia firefighter Nicole Mittendorff, and the ongoing investigation by her Fairfax County department about whether this online harassment played any role in her suicide last week, there was online chatter about why she didn't ignore what the attacks.
The guys posting nasty, lewd, degrading and mean messages about her also said they work with her. Would they say all this to her face at work the next day? At a fire? When she's saving someone's life?
If you wouldn't say it, don't type it.
© 2016 The Washington Post
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
COMMENTS
Advertisement
Musk's X Ordered To Pay Rs 5 Crore To Employee Fired For Not Responding To Billionaire's Email Elon Musk's X Sued for $20 Million in Shares by Ex-Twitter Chairman X Tipped to Introduce Payments Service Soon, Realising Elon Musk’s ‘Everything App’ Vision Life On Earth Originates From One Ancestor, Older Than Previously Believed Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah To Be Prosecuted In Land Scam Case Kolkata Rape-Murder: Fractures, 150 mg Semen, Other Claims Denied By Cops Pak-Origin 26/11 Accused Tahawwur Rana Can Be Sent To India: US Court Mumbai University Invites Applications For Distance Learning Courses 17 Palestinians Killed In Israeli Strike On Gaza Amid Raging War Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.