Beyond Selidor

Ronnie, thank you for linking to this. What happened to Fall was horrific, and it happened because, as you say, because self-righteous people felt able to be awful, to gatekeep and harass. Twitter was just the means to the end, and if it didn't exist, other similarly truncated, anonymous platforms would be deployed instead, all weaponized by the same awful, gatekeeping, violently harassing mob.

I think one of the most horrifying things is that the mob feels it's truly well intentioned and that its actions are justified. As the writer of the Fall interview said: I believe they truly feel that trans stories should only be written by trans people and that Fall should have had to out herself before publishing. I believe they believe — still — that they did the right thing. They still destroyed a woman’s life. I want to believe that we'll get past the strident voices of identity and thought policing, the kneejerk bullying and harassment that recklessly destroys lives, but the road ahead sure looks bumpy :(