MAGA’s Violent Threats Are Warping Life in America; The New York Times, February 18, 2024

 David French, The New York Times; MAGA’s Violent Threats Are Warping Life in America

"So we called the local sheriff, shared the threat, and asked if the department could send someone to check our house.

Minutes later, a young deputy called to tell me all was quiet at our home. When I asked if he would mind checking back frequently, he said he’d stay in front of our house all night. Then he asked, “Why did you get this threat?”

I hesitated before I told him. Our community is so MAGA that I had a pang of concern about his response. “I’m a columnist,” I said, “and we’ve had lots of threats ever since I wrote against Donald Trump.”

The deputy paused for a moment. “I’m a vet,” he said, “and I volunteered to serve because I believe in our Constitution. I believe in free speech.” And then he said words I’ll never forget: “You keep speaking, and I’ll stand guard.”

I didn’t know that deputy’s politics and I didn’t need to. When I heard his words, I thought, that’s it. That’s the way through. Sometimes we are called to speak. Sometimes we are called to stand guard. All the time we can at least comfort those under threat, telling them with words and deeds that they are not alone. If we do that, we can persevere. Otherwise, the fear will be too much for good people to bear."

Atmospheric scientist loses honor, membership over ethics violation; The Washington Post, April 8, 2022

Kay Nolan, The Washington Post; Atmospheric scientist loses honor, membership over ethics violation

American Meteorological Society expels physicist Timothy Dunkerton after offensive tweet as professional science groups grapple with how to confront harassment, discrimination

"The Post obtained a copy of an email sent privately by AMS Associate Executive Director Stephanie Armstrong to society members who had filed a formal complaint about the physicist’s behavior.

That email names Dunkerton and says he “violated two components of the AMS Code of Conduct: 1) Members shall carry out their activities with integrity and the highest ethical standards. 2) Members must treat all individuals with respect. Members must refrain from all forms of discrimination, harassment, and bullying in their professional encounters.”...

Erika Marín-Spiotta, a University of Wisconsin geography professor who holds “bystander training” workshops — which teach people ways to intervene when they see harassment or bullying — stressed the importance of disclosing incidents of misconduct to the broader community.

It “is important so that the community is aware that these behaviors are happening, they are unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” she said.

Oltman-Shay, Dunkerton’s former boss, said this week: “I applaud the AMS for continuing to review their code of ethics. … It’s my hope that this will become an example to serve as caution to those who bully.”"

Colorado bans doxing of public health workers amid rise in online harassment; The Washington Post, May 20, 2021

Meryl Kornfield, The Washington Post ; Colorado bans doxing of public health workers amid rise in online harassment

"Seeking to address the mounting online harassment endured by health workers across the state during the pandemic, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) signed a bill Tuesday making it illegal to post personal information about health workers, officials and their families that threatens their safety...

The law, which took effect immediately, makes doxing — or sharing a person’s private information such as an address or phone number — a misdemeanor. Violators could face up to 18 months in jail and a $5,000 fine.

Across the country, workers on the front lines of the pandemic have reported receiving threatening calls and vandalism at their workplaces and homes for being the messengers about masking and other public health precautions. Despite a marked rise in bullying of health-care workers globally, officials acknowledge rampant reports are only the “tip of the iceberg.”"

 

To Deal With Trump, Look to Voltaire: Advice from the Enlightenment: In the face of crude bullying and humorless lies, try wit and a passion for justice. ; The New York Times, December 27, 2018

Robert Darnton, The New York Times; To Deal With Trump, Look to Voltaire

Advice from the Enlightenment: In the face of crude bullying and humorless lies, try wit and a passion for justice

"We are living through a climate change in politics. Bigotry, bullying, mendacity, vulgarity — everything emitted by the tweets of President Trump and amplified by his followers has damaged the atmosphere of public life. The protective layer of civility, which makes political discourse possible, is disappearing like the ozone around Earth.

How can we restore a healthy climate? There is no easy answer, but some historic figures offer edifying examples. The one I propose may seem unlikely, but he transformed the climate of opinion in his era: Voltaire, the French philosopher who mobilized the power of Enlightenment principles in 18th-century Europe."

"To Boldly Go"; robrogers.com, 9/9/16

Rob Rogers, robrogers.com; "To Boldly Go"

Political violence is no joke; Washington Post, 8/10/16

William Kennedy Smith and Jean Kennedy Smith, Washington Post; Political violence is no joke:

"By now, we have heard enough dark and offensive rhetoric from Trump to know that it reflects something fundamentally troubled, and troubling, about his candidacy. Trump’s remarks frequently, if not inevitably, spark outrage, which is followed by a clarification that, in lieu of an apology, seeks to attribute the dark undertones of his words to the listener’s twisted psyche. This fools no one. Whether you like what he is saying or, like a growing segment of the electorate, you reject it, it is easy to grasp Trump’s meaning from his words. But what to make of a candidate who directly appeals to violence, smears his opponents and publicly bullies a Gold Star family, a decorated prisoner of war and a reporter with a disability, among others? To borrow the words of Army Counsel Joseph Welch, directed at another dangerous demagogue: “Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?”

The truth remains that words do matter, especially when it comes to presidential candidates. On that basis alone, Donald Trump is not qualified to be president of the United States."

The Outrage Machine; New York Times, June 2016

[Video] New York Times; The Outrage Machine

Trump’s ‘Pocahontas’ attack leaves fellow Republicans squirming (again); Washington Post, 6/10/16

Matea Gold, Karoun Demirjian and Mike DeBonis, Washington Post; Trump’s ‘Pocahontas’ attack leaves fellow Republicans squirming (again):

"The “Pocahontas” line spurred chatter at former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney’s ideas summit Friday in Park City, Utah, where some attendees said they were aghast at Trump’s many race-based lines of attack.

Stuart Stevens — the chief strategist on Romney’s 2012 presidential bid, who, like Romney, has vowed not to vote for Trump — said the candidate’s use of “Pocahontas” to attack Warren was both racist and inappropriate.

“If you said this in a sixth-grade class, the teacher would tell you, ‘Don’t say this,’ ” Stevens said.

“This is a sick guy, and Americans are not longing for a president who’s going to go out and use ethnic slurs against people,” he said. “It’s amusing in the same way telling dirty jokes around a frat house can get laughs, but most people grow out of that. It’s childish.”"

Elizabeth Warren Calls Donald Trump A ‘Racist Bully’; Huffington Post, 6/9/16

Peter Andrew Hart, Huffington Post; Elizabeth Warren Calls Donald Trump A ‘Racist Bully’ :

"“You should be ashamed of yourself, ashamed,” Warren said. “Ashamed for using the megaphone of a presidential campaign to attack a judge’s character and integrity simply because you think you have some God-given right to steal people’s money and get away with it. You shame yourself and you shame this great country.”

She continued: “Like all federal judges, Judge Curiel is bound by the federal code of judicial ethics not to respond to these attacks. Trump is picking on someone who is ethically bound not to defend himself — exactly what you would expect from a thin-skinned, racist bully.”

“You, Donald Trump, are a total disgrace,” she added."

Monica Lewinsky: ‘The shame sticks to you like tar’; Guardian, 4/22/16

Jon Ronson, Guardian; Monica Lewinsky: ‘The shame sticks to you like tar’ :

"The reason why she finally agreed to meet me, despite her anxieties, is that the Guardian is highlighting the issue of online harassment through its series The web we want – an endeavour she approves of. “Destigmatising the shame around online harassment is the first step,” she says. “Well, the first step is recognising there’s a problem.”

Lewinsky was once among the 20th century’s most humiliated people, ridiculed across the world. Now she’s a respected and perceptive anti-bullying advocate. She gives talks at Facebook, and at business conferences, on how to make the internet more compassionate. She helps out at anti-bullying organisations like Bystander Revolution, a site that offers video advice on what to do if you’re afraid to go to school, or if you’re a victim of cyberbullying...

Later, she emails to explain why she didn’t walk away in the school playground – and why we read the negative comments. “I guess I was in shock,” she writes. “Psychologists speak about freezing as a response to a traumatic event. I was probably more afraid of the imagined pain of being completely outcast than the pain I was experiencing in that moment. Maybe there’s a twisted need to read the comments as a form of self-preservation, to be prepared for what may come down the pike.”"

Doonesbury; GoComics.com, 4/17/16

Garry Trudeau, GoComics.com; Doonesbury

‘The Trump Effect’: Hatred, Fear And Bullying On The Rise In Schools; Huffington Post, 4/13/16

Christina Wilkie, Huffington Post; ‘The Trump Effect’: Hatred, Fear And Bullying On The Rise In Schools:

"It was only a matter of time before kids started picking up the aggressive, divisive language that’s become a hallmark of the 2016 presidential campaign.

According to a new report by the nonprofit Southern Poverty Law Center titled “The Trump Effect: The Impact of the Presidential Campaign on our Nation’s Schools,” the race is stoking fears and racial tensions in America’s classrooms...

The report identified two troubling trends: more openly racist and vicious bullying of minorities, and more fear and anxiety among immigrants and minorities about what would happen to them if certain candidates for president are elected.

The survey did not name specific candidates, but teachers named Trump, the Republican front-runner, in more than 1,000 comments — five times more often than they mentioned any of the other candidates."

Students Reportedly Organize 'Anti-Gay Day' at Pittsburgh-Area High School; People, 4/21/15

Kathy Ehrich Dowd, People; Students Reportedly Organize 'Anti-Gay Day' at Pittsburgh-Area High School:

"A group of students in a Pittsburgh-area high school are under scrutiny for reportedly organizing an "anti-gay day" at the school last week in response to the nationally observed "Day of Silence," which supports the LGBT community.

According to WPXI, a group of students at McGuffey High School in Claysville, Pennsylvania, were encouraging people to wear flannel shirts and write "Anti-Gay" on their hands late last week.

The students apparently organized themselves just after the school's Gay-Straight Alliance arranged for students to take part in the "Day of Silence," a national event organized by the national Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network to call attention to the silencing effect of anti-LGBT bullying and harassment in schools."

If Lance Armstrong is coming clean, he owes hundreds of apologies to those he bullied; Yahoo Sports, 1/5/13

Dan Wetzel, Yahoo Sports; If Lance Armstrong is coming clean, he owes hundreds of apologies to those he bullied: "Maybe this is a redemption story if he acted differently in the past. Maybe it would be easier to understand that this was a lie that got so big, with so many people counting on it to be true, that he couldn't get out from under it. Maybe this would be easy. But after all the damage was done, after all the times his lawyers napalmed someone's reputation, after all the times Armstrong took the people closest to him, ones who understood the truth and tried to bury them, this can't be just admitting to something that any thinking person long ago was fairly certain he did. Only his sizeable ego could think that's enough. No, if this is a new day for Lance, then it needs to be about someone other than just Lance. This needs to be about making amends, publicly and painfully, one by one, name by name, to all the people he and his machine tried to run over, all the people whose crime was merely wanting to acknowledge the truth long before the schoolyard bully ran so short of friends he too finally realized it was his only option."

Suicide Draws Attention to Gay Bullying; New York Times, 9/21/11

Anahad O'Connor, New York Times; Suicide Draws Attention to Gay Bullying:

"Five months ago, Jamey Rodemeyer, a Buffalo junior high school student, got on his webcam and created a video urging other gay teenagers to remain hopeful in the face of bullying.

The 14-year-old spoke of coming out as bisexual and enduring taunts and slurs at school. And he described, in at times desperate tones, rejection and ridicule from other teenagers.

Jamey made the video as part of the It Gets Better project, a campaign that was started last fall to give hope to bullied gay teenagers. “All you have to do is hold your head up and you’ll go far,” he said. “Just love yourself and you’re set. … It gets better.”

But for Jamey, the struggle apparently was just too much. This week his parents announced that their son was found dead, an apparent suicide."