To my dearest, darlingest Momsie and Emsicle………Trousers:

If you’d permit me to take the Alanna approach to situations, which is to offer a response the length of which is almost as long as my soap box is high, I will do so now:

Because I’m me and I take things out of context, I don’t directly want to address you, or this ‘anon’. What I want to say is, most likely, this ‘anon’ doesn’t actually know you at all. And I’m not even saying that because you are beautiful and wonderful and they clearly got a lot of shit wrong, because you obviously know all that. Factually, the messages were general enough that I don’t think any of them even reflected the sort of things you post on your blog. None of their hateful words actually has anything to do so specifically with you, and could easily have been sent to another person, or a million other people, with their generality. Best guess is it’s one of your followers in middle school who got her first period today or something. Or, more likely, came home to the same kind of shit anonymously posted on her blog, and just picked the first person on her dash to send those words on to. As everyone has been calling it, this is spam. Hate spam, but otherwise no different than ‘A GHOST WANTZ U 2 EMAIL THIS 40000 TYMES oR u DYE.’ The internet just loves it’s nonsensical bullshit that courses through it’s web, attaching itself to people who it has nothing to do with.

But frankly, it really fucking pisses me off. And not just because I recently watched ‘Cyberbully: An ABC Family Original Movie’, though that helps.

The unfortunate fact is, hate speech is becoming more and more a part of our vernacular, and the anonymity of the internet is making it that much easier to spew the kind of hateful language that courses through the more evil side of a 14-year-olds brain. Though the sad fact is it’s not just 14-year-olds, everyone is chomping at the bit now that there’s a way to get AWAY with saying awful things…whether it’s people you know, or as is probably your case, some rando. Also, it seems that tumblr is one of the worst offenders, given the whole ‘anon’ system. While I appreciate tumblr for what it is, the ‘anon’ option for posting combined with the openness and accessibility in their blogosphere makes it extra easy to squirt out hate speech money-shot style all over the face of the unsuspecting internet.

That metaphor was unexpectedly dirty. I apologize.

Anyway, it pisses me off. You are strong-willed and intelligent enough to know this wasn’t personal and that on the off-chance this actually is someone you know, it’s not someone that actually KNOWS you (another reason we know it’s not someone you know is because I don’t think you have anyone in your circle with such terrible grammar). And you can make fun of that grammar. Plus, you have a support system and line of love-defense that would put to shame the love-protection spell that Lily unwittingly used against Voldemort. That’s right, all the responses and love you are getting over this just formed a little less-than-three heart shaped scar on your tumblr’s forehead.

Nonetheless, I wouldn’t blame you if you feel somewhat shaken, because honestly, I don’t know how I would have responded to something like that..even with all my logicking. It probably wouldn’t have been pretty. And for a fourteen year old who lacks the necessary will and has no one to come to their defense? To tell them that they are loved and that the bully is just making up bullshit? To say how intelligent and beautiful and not worthless they are? If those things aren’t being said, what happens?

No wonder there are so many suicides of young kids. When someone explicitly says things like ‘you’d be better off dead’ and ‘go kill yourself’, people take that fucking seriously.

So I’m not going to tell you how wonderful and beautiful and perfect you are because you know that. And if you don’t you should. With you, m’dear, that part I can feel safe about.

To the anon: I won’t even say you’re stupid or a coward or that you don’t know Emily because that part is obvious. What you may not know, however, is that you could be a murderer. If you continue spewing hate speech to every random person you don’t know on the internet, eventually you will hit the one with no extra line of defense, and anything that person, or multiple people, or anyone who you hurt does to themselves on account of your words…their blood will be on your hands.

We all know this has nothing to do with Emily as a person. DO NOT be the cause of someone’s life cut short. DO NOT contribute further to the use of hate to ruin lives. Just DO NOT. DO NOT put more evil out into the blogosphere, society at large, anything. Because we don’t need it. We don’t fucking need anymore.

Thanks for letting me rant.

<3<3<3 ‘til the end of the world

……….which is likely December of this year