I don't get nostalgic for much, but one thing I miss about the earlier internet was everyone's ability to dismiss internet tough-assery as ridiculous, overblown stupidity. I guess that's the difference between a pioneer town and a safe space on a university campus.
Sorry, but it's not all ridiculous, overblown stupidity anymore. Some of these people seem stupid enough to actually follow through on their threats.
I understand the scariness of receiving such a thing, but is there any evidence to suggest that the person willing to act on such a threat is influenced by (1) inability to send or (2) confirmation of receipt (or lack thereof)?
Separate from that question, how and why is it better than the intended recipient knowing credible threats have been made on their life? When is denying them the agency to decide how to respond to the threats acceptable? Does it accomplish anything but alleviating the mental turmoil associated with understanding the realities of their own life?
"Seem" is an interesting word here, as well as the phrase "deemed credible." Both indicate that my point is not being rebutted.
I'm not denying that the scale of the problem has grown to the point that rare events (someone following through on Internet bluster, in this case) will occur. I'm simply remembering a simpler time, when people didn't clamor for the sanitization of their daily Internet lives.
Not wanting to receive threats of violence against you or family members is hardly clamoring for sanitization. Sure, most of those threats aren't actually going to happen but a real human has the stress of having to evaluate each one and hoping they didn't get it wrong.
It's also not as if the only two possibilities are “actual stalker attacks you” and “nothing happens”. SWATing, spamming friends/family/coworker with hateful propaganda or photoshopped porn, placing embarrassing ads with the victim's actual contact info, etc. are all things that happen in the real world and don't require some blowhard to leave their house or risk persecution anywhere near as much as a serious physical attack would entail.
I'm sorry, but I think the phrase "clamor for sanitization of their daily internet lives" is very much undermining the problem of people who are receiving death and rape threats by the ton on a daily basis. And further, I cannot, at all, look down on them for wanting that to go away.