#piling on

Fascinating thread and research paper!

Marwick, A. Morally Motivated Networked Harassment as Normative Reinforcement. Social Media + Society, 7(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051211021378

https://twitter.com/alicetiara/status/1400816738275581957

When people say or do something "bad", it's easy to pile on and feel justified, defending one's identified groups. This can be anything from GamerGate to cancelling actors.

BUT: Individual attributes like race, gender identity, sexuality, religion, etc. function as "attack vectors." (tx T&S participants for that term!) So if I'm Muslim, regardless of what I'm harassed about, I face a bunch of Islamophobic bullshit.

This means that it's /more likely/ that ppl w minoritized/marginalized identities will face harassment, & this is intersectional (e.g. misogynoir)

The impact: people withdraw from public sphere, feel depressed/bad/guilty, moral norm is reinforced and harassers "win"

Sunday’s first reading isn’t just about old school public health. 

Back then, there was an idea that the outside showed you what was inside. If I’m unclean on the outside, it’s because I’m unclean on the inside.

A closely related idea was that whatever made me unclean – illness, disease, misfortune, poverty, etc. – was caused by my sin.

If I’m suffering, it’s because I did something bad. I deserve what’s happening to me.

For someone who’s suffering, that just makes it worse. It’s jumping on top of someone who’s already down. In football it’s called piling on. And there’s a penalty for doing it.

While illness and misfortune aren’t connected to sin, the first reading does show us something that is completely connected to sin.

Separation.

Sin separates. It separates us from God. And it separates us from each other.

More on this tomorrow.

Sunday’s Old Testament reading (Leviticus) isn’t just about old school public health.  Back then, there was an idea that the outside reflected the inside.  If I’m unclean on the outside, it’s because I’m unclean on the inside. 

A related idea was that illness, disease, misfortune, poverty, etc., were caused by sin.  If I’m suffering, it’s because I did something bad.  I deserve what’s happening to me. 

For someone who’s already suffering, that perspective just makes things harder.  It’s jumping on top of someone who’s already down.  In football it’s called piling on, and there’s a penalty for doing it. 

 While illness and misfortune aren’t connected to sin, the reading does point to something that is completely connected to sin.  Separation.  Sin separates – it separates us from God, and from each other.