Suspended Terror

In June, Michelle Shocked thought it would be funny to post the personal contact info of a reporter on Twitter. When he asked her to remove the Tweets, she refused. In June, Michelle Shocked was suspended from Twitter. That is, her primary and verified Twitter account ( @MShocked ) was suspended. She maintains multiple accounts, a violation of Twitter's rules and regulations. Almost as soon as she was suspended, she began using @IndelibleWoman, continuing to troll and harass others on Twitter.

Michelle's primary account was restored after a few days, but gone was the little blue checkmark awarded to verified profiles. She spent the next several months blaming others for her own mean-spirited words.

Michelle was acting like a spoiled child, desperate for attention. And when spoiled children don't get their way, they storm off to their rooms, slamming the door behind them. The online variation of slamming the door is to deactivate your own account, which is what Michelle did.

When nobody knocked on her metaphorical door to check on her... when the party continued in her absence, she emerged again, still wanting to be noticed. Still tugging at everybody's clothing, still spilling everybody's drinks, and still being the spoiled little brat she is. Eventually, everybody grew sick of her bullshit. On Christmas Eve she spammed apx. 60 people with the words "Marry Christmas" and a link to Perrin Blackman's blog of revisionist nonsense. Enough people reported her, and she was suspended a second time.

Like a bad penny, Michelle does not vanish easily. After a couple days, her account was restored again. But though a spoiled child can eventually learn to stop seeking negative attention, Michelle's ignorance and ego are limitless. This time, not only was she spamming dozens of people, but she mounted another of her conspiracy theories, blindly (and blandly) accusing random people of being behind Twitter accounts that have opposed her hate speech.

In the mind of Michelle, there isn't a multitude of individuals who disagree with her. Her grandest conspiracy theory of all is that we are all one person. She thinks I am Anile and Anile is Liz and Liz is Kat and Kat is Rhonda and Rhonda is the eggman and the walrus (koo koo ka choo!). Ad infinitum, ad absurdum. Again her accusations and attacks against innocent people backfired, and her account has been suspended a third time.

Will Michelle Shocked return to her primary account? Will she create a new account? Will Perrin Blackman reactivate her account to continue threatening innocent people? Will Jeff Bruce Cohn emerge after more than 50 suspended accounts to threaten more rape and more violence in the name of Michelle Shocked? It is anybody's guess.

 

In an age when reality TV stars can emerge victorious after equating homosexuality to terrorism, the importance of holding Michelle Shocked accountable for her hate speech has never been more clear. Forgiveness and absolution are available to those who seek it, but not for those who flaunt hatreds and prejudices in the faces of others. The line must be drawn.