4 ms·

Twitter users are revealing the identities of white supremacist protestors

15 points by mgiannopoulos 9y ago

yahna 9y ago
Well I'm sure this will lead to good places. sigh.
cup 9y ago
If you're comfortable enough marching in public then I would have assume you'd have no issue with people knowing you were at that event.
nsaslideface 9y ago
Or to put it another way, the protesters are revealing their own identities by making their info public. I am skeptical of how useful this is in the long run. It's therapeutic for some of my fellow leftists ("haha, this person's name is sullied for life, I imagine") but real, permanent change is less easy than this.
deft 9y ago
Before anyone comes in and acts like this is wrong: attaching a face to a 'free speech' protest is perfectly OK. There's no legal penalties for saying horrific racist comments, but there are social ones. Props to these people, however I hope there aren't any mistaken identities.
- yahna 9y ago
  Social ones like harassment, doxxing, people going after your job, family, death threats, etc... Social media mobs also tend not to get it right consistently, or go for any sort of a real standard. See the guys reddit was all over after the Boston Bombing. At the same time, this > “I understand the photo has a very negative connotation,” he said. “But I hope that the people sharing the photo are willing to listen that I’m not the angry racist they see in that photo.” From a guy marching with Nazis. Really dude, you aren't a racist? Your argument for why you aren't a racist for marching with Nazis is that you were only doing it to defend a statue of a guy who fought a war to defend slavery.
- berberous 9y ago
  While it's hard to feel any sympathy for this particular group of nazi losers, I think Slate Star Codex makes some decent points about the dangers of this kind of behavior: http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/07/29/against-signal-boosting-as-doxxing/ http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/07/29/against-signal-boosting...
peterwwillis 9y ago
“I understand the photo has a very negative connotation,” he said. “But I hope that the people sharing the photo are willing to listen that I’m not the angry racist they see in that photo.” Apparently, racists do not know they are racist.
- yahna 9y ago
  I think the new thing is they weren't really a racist until the liberals started calling them racist. Then they felt so bullied they had to go be racists.
concede_pluto 9y ago
Two problems: suppressing dumb ideas lends them unwarranted credibility, and in their fervor they will almost certainly victimize innocent people.
- smt88 9y ago
  I don't see this as suppressing dumb ideas. Quite the opposite -- it's fueling a national debate about those ideas. These people are getting much more of a platform than they'd otherwise have, and I disagree that it gives them credibility. It gives them warranted (and necessary) visibility, juxtaposed against a social backlash, which hurts their credibility. To your second point: what makes you think doxxing them is going to motivate them to victimize people that they wouldn't otherwise victimize?
mikeash 9y ago
For those wringing their hands about free speech, remember that this was a violent event which resulted in one death, a dozen or two serious injuries, and lots and lots of less serious injuries. It's one thing to call out people involved in a peaceful Nazi rally (although I don't think I'd be opposed to that either), and white another to call out people involved in fighting and killing peaceful protestors.

15 points by mgiannopoulos 9y ago

Well I'm sure this will lead to good places. sigh.

cup 9y ago

If you're comfortable enough marching in public then I would have assume you'd have no issue with people knowing you were at that event.

nsaslideface 9y ago

Or to put it another way, the protesters are revealing their own identities by making their info public. I am skeptical of how useful this is in the long run. It's therapeutic for some of my fellow leftists ("haha, this person's name is sullied for life, I imagine") but real, permanent change is less easy than this.

deft 9y ago

Before anyone comes in and acts like this is wrong: attaching a face to a 'free speech' protest is perfectly OK. There's no legal penalties for saying horrific racist comments, but there are social ones. Props to these people, however I hope there aren't any mistaken identities.

yahna 9y ago
Social ones like harassment, doxxing, people going after your job, family, death threats, etc... Social media mobs also tend not to get it right consistently, or go for any sort of a real standard. See the guys reddit was all over after the Boston Bombing. At the same time, this > “I understand the photo has a very negative connotation,” he said. “But I hope that the people sharing the photo are willing to listen that I’m not the angry racist they see in that photo.” From a guy marching with Nazis. Really dude, you aren't a racist? Your argument for why you aren't a racist for marching with Nazis is that you were only doing it to defend a statue of a guy who fought a war to defend slavery.
berberous 9y ago
While it's hard to feel any sympathy for this particular group of nazi losers, I think Slate Star Codex makes some decent points about the dangers of this kind of behavior: http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/07/29/against-signal-boosting-as-doxxing/ http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/07/29/against-signal-boosting...

peterwwillis 9y ago

“I understand the photo has a very negative connotation,” he said. “But I hope that the people sharing the photo are willing to listen that I’m not the angry racist they see in that photo.” Apparently, racists do not know they are racist.

yahna 9y ago
I think the new thing is they weren't really a racist until the liberals started calling them racist. Then they felt so bullied they had to go be racists.

concede_pluto 9y ago

Two problems: suppressing dumb ideas lends them unwarranted credibility, and in their fervor they will almost certainly victimize innocent people.

smt88 9y ago
I don't see this as suppressing dumb ideas. Quite the opposite -- it's fueling a national debate about those ideas. These people are getting much more of a platform than they'd otherwise have, and I disagree that it gives them credibility. It gives them warranted (and necessary) visibility, juxtaposed against a social backlash, which hurts their credibility. To your second point: what makes you think doxxing them is going to motivate them to victimize people that they wouldn't otherwise victimize?

mikeash 9y ago

For those wringing their hands about free speech, remember that this was a violent event which resulted in one death, a dozen or two serious injuries, and lots and lots of less serious injuries. It's one thing to call out people involved in a peaceful Nazi rally (although I don't think I'd be opposed to that either), and white another to call out people involved in fighting and killing peaceful protestors.