Yes and no on vicious online commenters
Matt Zoller Seitz, in his usual wannabe contrarian way, has an article up at Salon about why he thinks that anonymous comments do the public a service, by showing how ugly, vicious, racist, misogynist, and mean-spirited Americans can be if they don't feel like they have to be held accountable for their actions. I find some of his points intriguing, though I have to point out that it's easy for a white dude to see it all as a big science experiment, because he's blinded to the way that hate speech reflects actual threats of violence and oppression in the real world for many people. For instance, take this quote:
Jesus H. Christ, I had half a post for