Meine Rede – ich kann’s nur nicht so schön ausdrücken. Und dann auch noch mit West-Wing-Referenz! Paul Carr vom Guardian über den angespuckten Arrington und seine persönliche Konsequenz:

„And that is precicely where the internet has a problem. What we read on the web is shaped almost entirely by what our friends recommend to us or what other people have decided is popular. And because what’s popular is meanness, that almost all that we read – page after page of cynicism, meanness, ranting and rage. Don’t believe me? My negative Second Life column attracted 42 comments. My bitchy Le Web one, 28. Last week, by contrast, I wrote about how inspired I was by Barack Obama’s inauguration. Number of comments: none. Both the Second Life and Le Web columns made it to the top of the “top technology stories of the last 24 hours” list on guardian.co.uk. I’d be surprised if the Obama column even troubled the top 50. In cyberspace, no one wants to hear you unless you scream.

Which brings me back to Arrington and my lack of surprise at the vile incident at DLD, or at some of the other hideous threats he’s received.

Having been repeatedly hailed for being a bastard and entirely ignored for being nice; having read the vile abuse aimed at Sarah and Julia and countless other women who dare to showcase their abilities online; having seen the glee with which sites like Valleywag tear apart the personal lives of internet personalities – and having seen no popular positive counterbalance to any of it – I am absolutely unsurprised that the hate has finally spilled over into real life.

You simply can’t have a system which rewards nastiness over niceness and which offers no consequences for those who commit cowardly anonymous attacks and then act surprised when people don’t know where to draw the line. And if it carries on, someone is going to get seriously hurt, unless we all say – as Arrington has on Techcrunch today – enough is enough.“