A swarm of internet nasties descended on Laila Alawa, an American Muslim writer, publisher and activist, after she was targeted last week as public enemy #1 by an assortment of right-wing sites — starting with The Daily Caller then spreading to assorted even more fringey sites from JihadWatch to PamelaGeller.com.
Alawa’s most horrendous crime, in the minds of her attackers? She once tweeted that the 9/11 attacks permanently changed the world.
No, really. Here’s the tweet that triggered the onslaught of Internet harassment that’s made Alawa’s life a living hell:
You may notice that she did not say that 9/11 changed the world “for the better.” She said “for good,” a phrase that everyone with even a rudimentary grasp of English should know means “permanently.”
But somehow every right-wing Muslim-hater who saw the Daily Caller post that launched this wave of hate decided that she was praising the terrorist attacks on 9/11/2001 in that tweet. Adding to their indignation: the fact that Alawa had participated in the making of a recently issued Department of Homeland Security report on violent extremism.
Professional Islamaphobe Pamela Geller gave her post on the subject this absurd headline:
Freedom Daily meanwhile, declared:
A site called The Political Insider offered a similarly twisted misreading of Alawa’s tweet; the site also managed to transform her work last year with the Department of Homeland Security into a direct appointment by Obama after the Orlando massacre.
Within a few days, there was so much nonsense about Alawa floating around the internet that the urban legend-busting site Snopes.com felt obliged to weigh in with a lengthy rebuttal of the most outrageous false claims, leading the author of the Daily Caller piece to attack the author of the Snopes.com piece as a “failed liberal blogger.”
As assorted right-wing websites and blogs fanned the flames, a virtual army of the internet’s worst people descended on Alawa, flooding her Twitter and Facebook mentions with an assortment of angry and threatening messages.
“On Tuesday, June 14, 2016, I woke up to a hell that even I could not have predicted,” Alawa wrote yesterday in a post on The Tempest, an online publication she founded and runs. “Hundreds of people were tweeting at me, the vitriol, hatred and fury in their messages each worse than the last one.”
Here are some of the messages she collected, one of which I’ve lightly censored:
This fellow gave Alawa a promotion to the top job at Homeland Security:
This fellow showed that he actually does know the difference between “for good” and “for the better” — unless the person using the phrase “for good” is Muslim.
And this lovely lady tossed in a plug for Donald Trump after wishing Alawa a gruesome death:
Meanwhile, this familiar face did his part to spread the Daily Caller’s blatant misinformation:
And all of this because a “reporter” at The Daily Caller searched through at least two years of her tweets in order to find a “smoking gun” tweet that turned out to be neither smoking nor a gun.
In her post on The Tempest, Alawa put the tweet that offended the world in context:
“Just like every American, 9/11 was a tragedy that hit close to home,” she wrote.
I was 10 when it happened, living in upstate New York, and the event and ensuing aftermath left me – and the nation – reeling. So much so that it changed my career path for good – I now fight to ensure that every woman, no matter who or where or how she is, has a media outlet to find a space in. So in 2014, upon the anniversary of the attacks, I sent out a tweet, like I do every year, about the events that had transpired.
She explained the difference between “for good” and “for the better,” knowing full well that it wouldn’t make any difference to
the thousands and thousands of people taking it upon themselves to comb through my private history, any public articles I had written, any photos I had online.
She recounted the abuse she’d gotten over the past week:
I received rape threats, death threats, and images that made me almost throw up. People, furious and filled with a hatred against someone they didn’t even know, had decided I was the perfect target for the entire week.
I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t eat. Each morning, I’d wake up, and suddenly remember what was happening online, and want to go back to sleep. All I could do was numbly block and report, block and report. … I kept laughing when I told the story in public, because if I stopped, I knew I’d start crying. I’d step away from my phone for 5 minutes, and come back to a hundred notifications.
People told her it would get better.
It didn’t get better. It still hasn’t gotten better. I’m now enemy #1 of racist, conservative, Trump-loving America, the favorite obsession of white supremacists and “patriots,” clickbait for every possible conservative platform and bigots like Pamela Geller, Allen West, and Milo Yannoupolis.
The bitter irony at the heart of all this hate? These abusive, vicious, barbaric right-wing bigots have somehow managed to convince themselves and their followers that they’re the ones defending Western civilization from barbarism.
H/T to Orion Anderson for sending me Alawa’s post.
She left herself open, Lars?
Really?
The same victim blaming bullshit. Every time. When a man harms a women, she must at least share the fault, if not be blamed entirely. When women are not strident enough in protecting themselves they are always to blame for men choosing to harass, threaten, assault and even kill us.
Shut the fuck up, Lars.
Two examples (of many) of when Daily Caller has previously used the phrase “for good” to mean “permanently”:
So, the Daily Caller hates Peyton Manning and Bill Cosby now?
Uh, me too.
Hey, looks like Lars used two different email addresses, and we’ve got some new turds from them on the first page. I’m not wasting any more time on them, as it’s clear they’re just a troll.
I’m sure Alawa wishes she’d phrased her tweet differently. But she’s not responsible for idiots misreading her words.
Also: While it’s possible that someone quickly glancing at her tweet might have misread it, even a moment’s worth of thought should make any native speaker of English realize their mistake. Especially if they deal with words for a living.
The Daily Caller has now run 3 different pieces referring to her and her tweet. At this point at least one person at that wretched publication, possibly even the writer of these pieces, must have realized that they blatantly misrepresented her words. But they’ll never admit to it, and will continue misrepresenting her, even knowing that every time they do so it means harassment for her.
They misrepresented what she clearly said, they repeated it after being notified of their “error”, and it harmed her.
A little libel suit might be in order.
OK, fun’s worn off
http://49.media.tumblr.com/2b1d61d55ab92af108bfd8c1c4a1d615/tumblr_nxg0p0v6cz1qjm93ho5_500.gif
@ David
I don’t believe they’re misreading them at all; they know exactly what she actually meant.
What they are doing is mis-reporting her words; as seen by the addition of “the good” in some of posts or implying a meaning that is obviously false from the context.
Is there a way of looking at the responses to her original tweet? Was there anyone who didn’t understand exactly what she meant?
Yes, there are other uses of the phrase “for good” and looking over a tweet quickly might cause a misreading of the way those words are used at first. Still, if I read something in a way that I’m really shocked by at first, I always go over it again carefully to make sure I read it in the correct context. When it’s a tweet, that’s REALLY easy to do.
All that aside, I’ve never known anyone to use the phrase “for good” in either way without the context making it obvious what was meant and not being questioned, let alone HARASSED, over it. Maybe that’s because no one was looking for a reason to misinterpret or twist what they were saying to “justify” spewing hatred at them.
She made the tweet in 2014. For someone who is so critical of Alawa for using a phrase that could be theoretically misconstrued, you could stand to be a little more careful about your own wording.
Also, it’s only the reality that people get harassed like this because as a society we have not taken a firm stand against. We let it happen. By focusing more on the behavior of the victim and by looking for ways to blame her, you are part of the reason that this is the reality. You are enabling these people.
http://cdn.someecards.com/someecards/usercards/1341771204421_5672798.png
Okay, link to where you’ve done that. Your username is not distinctive enough for me to search for your commenting history on Google. I’ve asked this of concern trolls before and am always ignored, but maybe you’ll be the first!
Here’s a tip for you. If you don’t people to think you’re an asshole, don’t act like an asshole. You’re more indigent that people here think you’re a troll and/or bigot than you are at Alawa’s harassment. You’re pretty quick to blame her for leaving herself open to harassment, but you’re unwilling to apply the same standards for yourself. I’m supposed to just believe you’re a decent person despite the fact that what I have to go by – your behavior here – says otherwise. You could have just apologized for stepping in it and moved on. But you chose to insult people and act like a petulant asshole instead.
I’ll call you whatever the fuck I want.
In my experience, when it comes to bigots and trolls, the best thing to do is kick the hornets nest.
Let them know how much you hate them and how little you think of them. If you’re a perfect sweetheart and do nothing but be nice, they will hate you and shit on you.
So why not cut to the chase and let them know what subhuman pieces of shit they are and that their mommy is telling them to get out of the basement and come have dinner with the family.
@ Alan
Yes, there are ways to see responses to her original tweet (assuming they weren’t deleted by the responder, or that the responder hadn’t deleted their Twitter account). I suspect if there had been a bad reaction in 2014, it would’ve spread further back then.
You just had to get in that last little jab, didn’t you?
With an attitude like that, it’s no wonder you’re still single and childless at thirty-five. It’s so sad that the highlight of your fucking week is Game of Thrones.
@Alan & Victorious Parasol
There were no replies to this tweet until some conservative bigot posted one 4 days ago. It has 4 retweets and 3 likes.
I think one of the reasons why the Daily Caller and other websites only posted screenshots, rather than linking to the tweet, is because the surrounding tweets by Alawa really ruin what fragile narrative they’ve desperately tried to build from that one tweet.
See for yourselves:
These two are maybe the most relevant of all:
But conservatives don’t give a shit about facts, as we all know.
Looks like Lars forgot that he’s supposed to pretend he’s not a troll. Oops.
I would say that Lars needs to remove his head from his ass before he chews through his tonsils, but I think it’s already too late.
While I agree with the rest of your post, how about we not shame people who live in their parents’ basements? Plenty of perfectly wonderful people live in their mommy’s basement.
I didn’t say your username wasn’t clever. I said YOU weren’t clever. And thank you for continuing to prove it with your “NO U” response, followed by a statement of your opinion on my voice (of which I give precisely zero fucks about), which has nothing to do with the conversation at hand.
The conversation being: why you’re such a fucking asshole for victim blaming a woman who was being harassed and then getting pissy when called out for saying something out of line instead of realizing that you’re fucking wrong for blaming her for assholes deliberately mis-reporting what she said so they can attack her.
So, either address what I said to you, or don’t fucking address me at all.
EDIT: Hold up.
It’s actually really sad that you think that “You’re single and childless, HA!” is a decent comeback around here.
http://lovelace-media.imgix.net/uploads/125/729e0940-5bb0-0132-0ba7-0eae5eefacd9.gif?
I’m dating and childless at 26, and I’m fucking pleased as punch, and I will continue to be childless.
Admit when I first read the tweet, understood it as “for the good” realized reading it the 2nd time it was “for good”. Is it her fault it was misread absolutely not her fault but can see how it could be misinterpreted. The world is full of people that read shallow, looking for a disagreement and want to be a internet rage monster. Here is the thing though, even if she did tweet “for the good” in no way does she deserve death threats, rape threats or violence. It boggles my mind there are people out there that this is the first route when they politically disagree with someone, “I want to physically harm you because you don’t agree with me”. What type of brain resorts to that as their first method of solving a disagreement?
@ IP
So basically the poor lass is being hounded because she’s one of those people (like me actually) who doesn’t like to repeat a word or phrase.
Well, as David and so many other commenters pointed out, if there was “misinterpretation” or “confusion” on the part of the reader, all they had to do was ask her directly about what she meant.
Instead, they chose to write hit-pieces and attacks on her character and facilitate harassment against her.
So, no, none of this is her fault. I feel no pity for the people harassing her, even if there was confusion or if someone “misread” her comment.
Especially since the writers of the nasty articles are native English speakers, as far as I’m aware.
@Lars:
I was going to point out the chilling effect on free speech and tacit acceptance that some ethnicities have less rights than others implied by
” True, but that’s the reality of 2016. If an individual is commenting on the largest terrorist attack in our nation’s history, he or she needs to be very careful. Especially a person of Middle Eastern descent.”
But then I realized you already knew that when you wrote it an were just being a dick.
Thanks, IP. I had a feeling it was something of the sort, but it’s good to have proof.
A-HA! Twenty-six. That’s why you can get away with your annoying voice and attitude.
Hm. That high-pitched whine again. Maybe a bat house would work better than tiki torches?
@ paradoxy
Technically that would include the Batman.