Actually I did, which is why I amended it five seconds later. I know how trolling works. What I was trying to say is that it's naive to try and dismiss the attacks on Leslie Jones as mere trolling. The toxic cloud surrounding this movie has brought every kind of stone dwelling knuckle-dragger out of the woodwork and given them the opportunity to spread their hateful rhetoric wider than ever. Saying that someone should simply ignore horrible, spiteful racist bile directed at them is just victim-shaming. Why should they have to face it in the first place?
Would you say that someone who commits suicide due to online bullying should have just ignored it? Should they have had 'thicker skin'?
Yes, because trolling is exactly what happened. She kept responding to it, and it got worse, hence "trolling." Sure, the stuff that was directed toward her was extremely racist, but you're gonna tell me that racists individuals can't be trolls either and they are/can be two-separate things?
And no, they don't have to "face" it either. Leslie fell into their trap because she didn't know how to handle it. It's not deserved of her, but those closer to her should have tried to tell her to stop retweeting and responding to these folks. They WANT to be seen, so of course those trolls are going to say the meanest, nastiest crap they can to get more visibility.
I'm going to tell you something, about myself, aside from my aforementioned experiences of race and or occupational directed hate. I've been bullied growing up, as early as I can remember being in grade-school. Why? Cause I was fat and was still taller than all of my elementary school teachers. I never once contemplated suicide, even after getting severely beaten up by about 13 or so kids at one point.
Do you know who I was told "to blame" for all this? I was. I was flat out told that me, myself, my mere existence was to blame for getting bullied. My size was a "threat" and that I "needed to be controlled" despite doing absolutely nothing to instigate. These punks that assaulted me were seen as "victims" in their twisted logic. How do you think I got through all those years of that kind of Bull****?
I learned to not give a flying **** anymore
Looking back on how everything played out, my biggest regret was not beating the ever living **** out of those people. It took one time, years later for me to teach someone with a Napoleon complex to NEVER mess with me, and everyone else decided to follow suit.
So yes, people need to learn to grow thick skin and learn how to deal with it,
because the rest of the world simply does not give a crap about your sensibilities. The rest of the world will tear you apart piece by piece if you let it. The world will beat you down and you will either stand up and keep going or lay down and die