It’s been awhile since we’ve heard a lot from our old buddy Arthur Chu. He quit Twitter, except he really didn’t. He claims his wife is running it now, but I doubt that. Either way, it doesn’t matter. The man who refused to report a rape is back, and he’s just as mean and nasty as he ever was. It’s funny to remember talking to him back in the fall, before I dropped the piece on his rape-ignoring. He was a piece of shit then too, but now he’s gone even further into the abyss. The Daily Beast has posted his latest column about Chairman Pao’s resignation, and it’s as nutty as you would expect.

First off, you can tell it’s gonna be pretty far out there just by the headline:2015-07-12_1-53-06

(archive link)

It doesn’t get any better in the text:

Some of the worst trolls on the Internet are celebrating victory, as embattled interim CEO of Reddit Ellen Pao stepped down yesterday after what can charitably be described as a month or so of pure hell…

A lot of the personal attacks on Pao were racial—google “Chairman Pao” if you want to see how nasty redditors can be, and how they think repetitive name-calling on the level of a sixth grade bully is the pinnacle of online wit. Even more common than the racial remarks, though, were the ones digging at Pao because of her gender. In the interest of common decency I won’t tell you how to find those on Google, though you can probably figure it out…

This is exactly as petty and stupid as it sounds. It’s also as alienating to ordinary, non-basement-dwelling troll users as it sounds. It’s the reason Reddit has gotten a reputation for being attractive to creepy, obsessive people for whom the inherently toxic environment is a reasonable price to pay to be around people like them. These are often people who have very strong opinions that polite society, for obvious reasons, disapproves of—for being a haven for pedophiles, white supremacists, conspiracy theorists, and unrepentant sex criminals.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Keep in mind, this person supports Sarah Nyberg, aka @srhbutts)

As I noted on Twitter a few minutes ago, I’ve never once called one of these detestable people a terrorist, even though some of them fit the technical definition. Why? Because it makes the word mean nothing, and it demeans the victims of actual terrorism. Then again, Chu doesn’t care much about that sort of thing, given his comments on the Charlie Hebdo attacks earlier this year. This is something that has struck me for months, though, and I wonder if any of these idiots ever think twice about it. Probably not. Also, if we really were terrorists, do you think they would be so brazen about trashing us online? I notice they get awfully silent when it comes to criticizing real ones.

They’re too busy defending people who are obviously incompetent. Ellen Pao had to go because she knew nothing about the community, had become a liability, and was way more trouble than she was worth. She was a highly controversial figure who lacked the ability to build consensus. Not only that, the users demanded that she go. It’s not that fucking complicated. Only social justice warriors like Arthur Chu (and his compatriots elsewhere in the media) would even think to offer up another explanation.

I guess calling online activists terrorists just makes for better copy.

 

UPDATE: IMC chimes in…