week 13-19

  1. hat role did the Internet (from 4chan to Infowars to Facebook and Twitter) play in the victimizing of Marcel Fontaine?

The internet although a great place to get vast amounts of information fast can also be a way for many to receive incorrect views. In the instance of the Marcel Fontaine the internet was used in an abuse way to almost kill a person as to someone walking into the Parkland School and opening fire. This was able to be accomplished through social media other mediums were taking advantage of  and ruining another persons life. As stated here in this paragraph, “A few days before the Parkland shooting, a photo of Fontaine wearing a T-shirt of Marx, Lenin, Mao and other communist luminaries dressed in party hats had been grabbed from his Instagram feed and posted by an anonymous user on 4chan” by taking a picture off  a instagram post and posting on a very bad site which continued to go to another inappropriate website as found here, “Its “reporter” lifted Fontaine’s photo directly from 4chan and, without any attempt at verification, ran with it on the front page. “Shooter is a commie. Alleged photo of the suspect shows communist garb,”By doing these terrible unprecidented posts on social media it turned an inocent man (high functioning borderline autistic) to be unable to fully enjoy his simple livilihood as he once knew it.   

  1. What were the immediate and lasting effects of being mistakenly cast as the Parkland shooter for Fontaine? The lasting effects are seen when he is called names, is unable to leave his home and when he does leave home he starts to have anxiety and worries that someone might kill him which he had messages on facebook this is stated here, “The first death threats landed via Facebook messenger by nightfall: “I hope someone throws you out of a rotary aircraft, you commie!” 
  2. Why has Sandy Hook father Lenny Pozner had to move so often? What has he done to combat online conspiracy theorizing? For Pozner, where does the right to free speech stop? Pozner had to move on from the death of his six year old son. He was the youngst of the 20 that were killed at Sandy Hook.  There was a book that was published about what really happened at Sandy Hook saying that it wasn’t a real shooting as stated here, “They generated thousands of web posts and a 426-page book called “Nobody Died at Sandy Hook” within the book it was made to look like Pozners son really didn’t exist.  Pozner was so distraught by this that he posted his sons birth and death certificate and kindergarten report card on his google account to show that his son really did exist. Pozner has done a few things to help combat conspiracy theorizing; 1) filed a lawsuit against Jones; 2)started an organization that helps to combat or challenge media content that isn’t right. This is stated here, “ Pozner has systematically challenged those who he believes cross that line, forcing moderators to delete posts. In 2018 alone, he reported 2,568 videos to YouTube and had 1,555 of those expunged.”
  3. What drives Dr. Paul Offit to continue his work (despite death threats) debunking the “vaccines cause autism” conspiracy theories? He thought of quitting but first he spoke to his wife and she told him to keep going. Since that he has kept going and hasn’t looked back since. The other thing that keeps him going is the children that he consistently helps and through vaccinations that keep them safe. As stated here, “I think they’re evil, to be quite frank. I think they hurt children, they put children in harm’s way and to me they have to be defeated.”
  4. How does sexism play into the harassment of video game development Brianna Wu? Brianna has seen how conspiracy theorist on the internet threaten woman who speak out and people are concerned that their children will be targeted as stated here, “Wu believes that women are targeted by conspiracy theorists more frequently than men, and yet they’re rarely heard. “The cost of speaking out is so high for women, I understand why most decide not to. I’ve heard hundreds of times over the last few years women with children saying ‘I am afraid to speak up because I don’t want my children to be targeted’. This all started when her video game Gamergate came out. She continues to receive death threats, and has had many threats made on her family.

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