In the year 2016, we live in a very progressive time. We are on the heel end of the first African American presidency, women are taking major leading roles in both the film and sports industries, and same sex marriage is now legalized and more excepted than ever within all fifty states. Everything on the surface seems to be on the right track for America’s social progression. Even though everything seems fine and dandy on the surface there is a disturbing trend happening online. That trend is internet trolling and the amount of online hate speech it produces. But, what is a troll and what is trolling? No they are not mythical creatures that live under a bridge. Wikipedia defines a troll as “Someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online …show more content…
But it seems overly abundant towards some demographics rather than others. Women seem to be the main targets. Sportswriters Sarah Spain and Julie DiCaro delved into the harassment they have faced online in a new youtube video that they recently posted. The video starts out with the women sitting on separate stools in separate shots and having volunteers, Made up completely of males, reading mean tweets that have been sent to Spain and DiCaro to the writers faces. The Comments range from mild such as “Sarah Spain is a know it all and cant do her job write” to more severe comments like “one of the hockey players should beat you to death with their hockey sticks like the W**** you are”. The most disturbing comment made was when DiCaro was covering Chicago Blackhawks Patrick Kane’s Rape Accusation case. DiCaro Made a Comment about how she was raped at a younger age and someone tweeted “Why bring up your own rape in this story? Is it a way to get back at critics that said you couldn 't get any?”. Upon watching this video i had to take a step back. I couldn 't believe the vial comments that were made by these