On the Negligible Virtues of Blocking

Progress continues!

Happen to recall that video at the end of my last update?

This one?


Did you imagine it was an over-the-top parody?

It wasn't, sadly.

"The safe space, Ms. Byron explained, was intended to give people who might find comments “troubling” or “triggering,” a place to recuperate. The room was equipped with cookies, coloring books, bubbles, Play-Doh, calming music, pillows, blankets and a video of frolicking puppies, as well as students and staff members trained to deal with trauma. Emma Hall, a junior, rape survivor and “sexual assault peer educator” who helped set up the room and worked in it during the debate, estimates that a couple of dozen people used it. At one point she went to the lecture hall — it was packed — but after a while, she had to return to the safe space. “I was feeling bombarded by a lot of viewpoints that really go against my dearly and closely held beliefs,” Ms. Hall said."

It would seem universities worldwide are redefining the term "hugbox" on an unprecedented scale, allowing the continued self-infantilization of their students.

It's not just in universities though, thanks to the wonders of modern technology people of all walks of life can not only filter out all information that contradicts what they already believe and the people using it- they can have some other stranger on the internet do it FOR them!

Why determine for yourself what is or isn't harassment when someone with an agenda and moderate programming skills can do all that hard thinking for you.

Courtesy of Randi Harper, who likes you- unless you agree with any point a GamerGate supporter ever made in which case- you can go to hell.

Anyone who agrees with anything about GamerGate is a harasser you know. All of them. With this blockbot, you never have to see them. Of course they're all harassers! You can't see for yourself now, but surely you can trust some person on the internet to decide that for you!

If you can't trust some person on the internet, who can you trust?

Let's look at some "Reviews".

A Fun Place and Safe Space!

One refers to a human being as being poop, they both refer to other human beings as being insects.
Surely these are the good guys.

WE WILL TAKE THEIR MICROPHONES! NO ONE WILL BE ABLE TO HEAR THEM! MWAHAHAHAHAA!

Yes... About that last one. That's not what is actually happening- which is good, as that would be even worse. No one is silencing these dread 'People who read tweets from people labeled Gamergaters', collectively blocking them just means the people doing the blocking can't see what they have to say.

The blocked twitterers are still being read by every other person who dares to actually decide for themselves what they want or don't want to read.

So, what you have here in the blockbot is a number of people who have confused willful ignorance for power.

Blocking, on an individual basis, is an unfortunate necessity. There IS actual harassment and there are complete jerks. People who will spam nonsense, insults, invectives... So on.

Those people, individuals, should indeed be blocked. But it should not be done lightly, casually, and certainly not just because you don't agree with them.

That, dear readers, is functionally no different from sticking your fingers in your ears and screaming "LALALALALA I CAN'T HEAAAR YOUUU LALALALALA"

And people who are using Blockbots are effectively signing up for someone else to cover their ears and scream "LALALALA THEY CAN'T HEAR YOU LALALA" on their behalf.

Whatever your opinion of GamerGate, that sort of thing is highly questionable and scientifically proven to be unhealthy.

Also rather childish.

I do not consider myself a GamerGater personally, but with every anti-intellectual attempt at communal thought-sanitization such as this the clearer it is I certainly can't side with Team Elite Social Justice Echo Chamber.

Twitter, Tumblr, Safe Space Universities...

How have we wound up with this wave of emotionally brittle authoritarian dramatics eager to tell and be told what they can and cannot like and must hate?

Damnit, Illuminati! This isn't good for anyone!

Progress continues.