We’re reeling this morning following news that after eight hours of unrelenting abuse on Twitter last night, TV host Charlotte Dawson has been hospitalised.
Charlotte is a much loved and respected member of Mamamia’s extended family and to say we are devastated by this news doesn’t come close to how we feel.
This all came about because of trolls; those people who sit on the Internet and – often anonymously – send abusive, hate-filled messages to people they don’t know.
Charlotte has long been a target of trolls. The star herself has said that the fact she does Botox and is a single, childless woman over 40 has long made her a target of misogynistic vitriol. That in itself is beyond horrific and pathetic.
Being an ambassador for the anti-bullying program Community Brave, Charlotte holds the firm belief that these trolls should be brought out in the public eye and held accountable to the awful things they say.
She takes a stand against the online bullying by retweeting abusive tweets to shame those that have sent them. Now setting aside whether or not this is the best way to deal with internet trolls (is there a good way to deal with unmitigated vitriol?), what happened to Charlotte this week was truly horrific.
When one Twitter user urged Charlotte to “please go hang yourself” this week, Dawson’s followers immediately sprung to her support – including one whose fiance had committed suicide. The troll responded with the tweet: “If I was your fiance, I’d hang myself too.”
Charlotte tracked down the twitter user, and contacted her over the phone, and then reported the incident to her employer – Melbourne’s Monash University. The user has now been suspended from her university mentoring job. Charlotte also appeared on A Current Affair last night to speak about the incident. You can see that here.
What happened next was a tsunami of abuse of pure hate that no person, no matter how strong, could ever be expected to take. The fact that a “#diecharlotte” hashtag appeared on Twitter is a testament to the twisted minds of trolls.
After experiencing 7 hours of these kind of comments, Charlotte simply tweeted: “Hope this ends the misery…” and “You win.”
At its best, social media is a tool for information sharing. A way to connect directly with those in the public eye we admire. At its worst it is the weapon of choice for bullies. A cowardly way for us to mock, taunt, shame and bully people online. A way in which we can launch a stinging, personal attack where there are no consequences we have to witness or face up to.
As Charlotte said herself, we can go online and call someone an ‘ugly whore’ and go back to doing the ironing.
When did this become okay?
Well Charlotte, we are all here holding your hand. Holding you up.
You are a compassionate, smart, beautiful woman.
Take a look at this beautiful interview that Mia did with Charlotte Dawson last year, in which she is intelligent, funny and refreshingly honest:
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It goes without saying that comments on this post need to remain respectful – otherwise they will be deleted immediately.
Top Comments
Does Charlotte Dawson know that you can switch twitter off?
Why should she have to? Why hand victory to women haters and bullies?
Perhaps mamamia should consider removing the ability to post as 'anon' ...
Charlotte Dawson used her public position to stalk, hunt down, expose and report ( to an anonymous person’s employer) something an anonymous person said online. Anonymous person said something which Charlotte didn’t like and didn’t approve of.
Then, previously anonymous person is then publicly “exposed” by Charlotte using her "fans" Internet stalking abilities.
Previously anonymous person is stood down from their professional position, because Charlotte used her public position and her fans to stalk and hunt down a previously anonymous person who said something online which Charlotte didn’t like.
So, 9gag/4chan – whatever they were/are/ an anonymous MULTITUDE of international trolls decide to troll Charlotte Dawson.
If Charlotte wanted to play in the troll playground she ought to have researched it properly first.
This was never a case of random people deciding to be mean to poor old drunken Charlotte! It was an orchestrated troll by “professional” Internet trolls.
All props to Charlotte for milking her little blip for all it’s worth. Although, she might want to re-think what she does online as a “voice” of anti- online bullying.
One of the first rules of the Internet is that one ought not to read or post when drunk. Charlotte, as she admitted on 60 Minutes, did. If she is prescribed Xanax why on earth was she drinking to excess, overreacting on the freaking Internet and Twitter POSTING and trying to get someone - one of the "little people" - sacked from their job?
Whatever happened to personal responsibility?
The person in question posted their university business card on Twitter, so it wasn't anonymous. The person in question is also someone working as part of a mentoring program; for high school students, no less. I wouldn't want someone capable of telling a complete stranger to "go hang yourself" anywhere near my students, especially the bright ones from low income/non-academic families (who tend to over-think and be quite self-deprecating anyway).
If the Twitter account had been anonymous and Ms Dawson had gone to unreasonable lengths to identify its owner, that'd be different. But, this person named themselves, and associated themselves quite clearly with their employer. I get that it was a co-ordinated attack from that point on, but this was quite different.