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from the more-than-just-a-40-year-old-TV-series dept.
Three months after she introduced the Internet Swatting Hoax Act in US Congress, Representative Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) found herself at the end of an apparent swatting attempt on Sunday night.
Melrose, Massachusetts police press spokesperson John Guilfoil confirmed to Ars Technica that the department received a phone call from "a computerized voice, not a natural voice" alleging "shots fired" and an "active shooter" at the address of Clark's home. The resulting police report confirmed an incident time of 9:57pm for a "life alert alarm" and "automated call reporting shooter."
This type of police report—using a disguised voice to allege false threats at a residence—is known as "swatting," due to the likelihood that police departments will react by sending SWAT teams to respond to serious-sounding threats. In the case of the Sunday night call, however, Guilfoil confirmed that Melrose police followed "established protocols" to choose a de-escalated response of normal police officers, though the officers in question blocked traffic on both ends of Clark's street with patrol cars. Guilfoil was unable to clarify whether weapons were drawn at the scene, and he did not answer our other questions about the incident, particularly those about the nature of the phone call received, "due to the ongoing nature of the investigation."
(Score: 3, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Thursday February 04 2016, @07:32PM
Maybe I just haven't run into this massive conspiracy by all men to harass women...
First off, "All Men" is a strawman.
I guess you don't consider all that "gaslighting" and "cycles of hate" to be harassment... [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by kurenai.tsubasa on Thursday February 04 2016, @08:45PM
He certainly is a strawman!
However, I've been him before, multiple times. When it's an individual who is a sexist asshole who is dead set on holding me accountable for things I have not done, then it's an individual who's a sexist asshole, and I will strive to write them off instead of dragging feminists and lesbians through the mud because of a few bad apples. When it's official policy, then we have a problem.
It has everything to do with the cycle of hatred. I consider it harassment when I'm being told to my face that I don't think women should program. I consider it harassment when I'm held accountable for rape and forced to attend a rape culture presentation. There may be rape cultures where women are required to also attend those presentations, but not at Grand Valley State University.
Why should I consider it anything else than sexism when somebody is trying to hold me accountable for something, solely based on my assigned gender at birth?
Maybe you've never had your feet personally or as part of a sexist policy held to the fire because somebody wanted to burn that strawman. Or maybe you're a big man who's ok with it when weak little girls call him a rapist and sexist and hold him accountable for the actions of others, because you'll make sure to keep those girls safe and sound from the rapists and sexists out there.
Or were you honestly trying to assert that discrimination never happens to people assigned the male gender at birth? Do you honestly think I'm just making this shit up?
Whatever. Written off with one proviso: if I ever have to sit through a “harassment culture” presentation because of my legal gender, I'll do what I should have done back in college and start a lawsuit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 05 2016, @04:41AM
> Posting from bizarro world.
You certainly got that right. Man it sucks to see mental illness up close. It makes me want to recoil because you express it so hatefully, it is hard to have compassion for that.