Rebecca Marino quits tennis, cites depression, Internet abuse

 smcooper62

 It actually says in the article that Laura Robson has also experienced cyberbullying and had suspended her twitter account as well.  They were using hers as an example.

 Michael9 Always playing the devil's advocate, eh Michael9? But your case here doesn't hold up. The language in the twitter assaults being cited is straight-out vile hate language, and it is directed not at other readers but at the objects of hate (the supposedly offending players). It is meant to taunt, to do harm, the way insults are always meant to taunt and harm. Meanwhile, no such direct hate speech exists in media articles about tennis players. The only one who thinks there is a equivalence here is you - and the irony of that is that you are one of the biggest haters in the room yourself, with your raging hate of the media and your constant twisting of facts to support that hate.

 usable.thought  Put your money where your mouth is: prove with facts your prejudiced  and ridiculous claim that “you are one of the biggest haters in the room yourself, with your raging hate of the media and your constant twisting of facts to support that hate”.

Actually your prattling really speaks volumes about your own heavy bias – you once boasted to me that you are a tennis writer, so no wonder you jump to protect other tennis writers who producing dubious arguments while hypocritically refusing to apply the same standards you use to condemn others.

Stop twisting factual criticism into “raging hate of the media”. It’s clear from our previous discussion (see link) that you do not comply with the standards and ethics pertaining to mainstream journalism or mainstream news media.

http://tinyurl.com/ahpq9bp

Your case here does not hold up because again you failed to get your facts rights and your arguments are dubious:.

- First, you wrongly presumed the offending comments were just “twitter assaults”— but it’s more than just Twitter, which you would have known had you done your homework.  Rebecca Marino herself cites “Internet abuse”: “Honestly I’ve had enough of the internet, twitter and facebook.”

- Second, you narrowly limit the issue to “hate language” or “hate speech” but the issue clearly goes beyond hate speech. Or perhaps you simply don’t understand what ‘hate speech’ means – what it is and is not (then read this link). Or perhaps your obsession with ‘hate’ (you repeated the word six times) reinforced “hate speech” in your  mind.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_speech

- Third, once your realize that the issue is larger than just “hate speech”, your point “it is directed not at other readers but at the objects of hate (the supposedly offending players)” actually supports my point which was about  a root cause of the unjustified internet abuse  hurled at the supposedly offending player Radwanska.

 I had considered forcing you to prove your dubious claims by using your own hypocritical past argument against your current arguments, but this would probably be too much for you to chew :)  [Usable Thought: “you haven't even proved systematic bias against Federer per se. You'd have to show that journalist X (whoever that might be) makes up quotes for Federer that are unfavorable and does not do so with other tennis players. You'd have to do some statistical number crunching as part of this.”]

As I said elsewhere, I can’t take your views seriously when they’re not supported by valid facts, sound logic or consistent principles. You argue for the sake of arguing. Yet you don’t like your views being challenged and debunked – so you taint my criticisms as mere “hate”. Please calm down and grow up.

 Michael9  Get a new hobby.  Sucka.

 rampal

 Have you read other sports threads?  Good grief... they are just as bad, if not worse!  Fanatic online fans are the same regardless of sport.  They idolize their favs and they vilify the others.

 usable.thought Great observation! IMO we have to start in our educational institutions as part of the curricula for children & youth, children now as young as 12 yrs old possess smartphones, kindles, Ipads, Iphones, laptops etc & have unfettered access to all kinds social media like Twitter, YT, FB without parental guidance.

I think the thing with freedom of speech is you can't tell someone how they should use it. If people want to express themselves by making abusive and idiotic posts, then the rest of us have to accept it.  If you can't,  then you always have the option not to listen/read whatever they are saying. Marino and Robson have chosen the latter, and that is fine. It isn't really the tragedy people are making it out to be.

 Kalcifa You think?  You don't know that's the case?

It may be "real" but no o me HAS to use the Internet or make an account on a social media web site. It isn't like school bullying. You HAVE to go to school by law. All they have to do is step away from the keyboard. No one has ever died because they couldn't access the interwebs. @usable.thought