- What role did the Internet (from 4chan to Infowars to Facebook and Twitter) play in the victimizing of Marcel Fontaine?
First, his picture was spreading online and he was accused of carrying out the school shooting and that’s not ture. Then a picture of him wearing a t-shirt that a couple of famous leaders of the communist party was on it for joke purpose. However, 4-chan and Infowar claim that the gun shooter is a commie. The next couple he and his partner have experienced multiple panic attacks due to stress, and every time he went out he was afraid that extremists will harasses him.
- What were the immediate and lasting effects of being mistakenly cast as the Parkland shooter for Fontaine?
He was diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum as a child and for years he had struggled to deal with anxieties and stress. The outcome of this tragic event had worthen his autism condition. With the help of therapy, his condition has gone better, but he claimed that he will never be the same anymore.
- 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?
In-for war states that the school shooting that resulted in the death of his children never existed. Jones and his fanatic followers believed that victims were crisis actors and they never exist, the whole thing did not happen. Sandy posted multiple evidence online including pictures of his son’s birth, death certificate, and kindergarten report card. In return, they keep harassing him because they don’t believe a word he said. Later on in his life, he has made an organization called honor network to challenge those who he believed are spreading wrong information online. Forcing moderators to delete posts, and suing Alex Jones for what he did. According to Ponzer, when freedom of speech is impeding other person’s right to be “free from defamation and harassment”
- What drives Dr. Paul Offit to continue his work (despite death threats) debunking the “vaccines cause autism” conspiracy theories?
Its his wife, who has been keeping motivated and reminding him that he is doing the right thing. For children and for science.
- How does sexism play into the harassment of video game development Brianna Wu?
Individuals were assuming that women are getting ahead of the gaming industry by having a sexual relationship with journalists. The belive itself are extremely biased and as Wu mentioned, many women are afraid to speak up because they are afraid that their relative might become the target.
Pretty good work, Terry. I’ll be interested in what you have to write in Activity Set 2