It’s safe to say whatever you want on the Internet; nobody will know it’s you. But that same anonymity makes it possible for people to say all the awful things that make the Internet such an annoying and sometimes frightening place. This week: what happens when the Internet turns on you?
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Note: The internet version of this episode contains un-beeped curse words. BEEPED VERSION.
Prologue
Ira finds a ridiculous comment thread on the Internet about an optical illusion. (3 minutes)
Ask Not For Whom The Bell Trolls; It Trolls for Thee
Writer Lindy West has been harassed by hundreds of trolls online. But only one ever apologized for his remarks. Lindy began to wonder, could he explain why trolls choose to be so cruel? (21 minutes)
Freedom Fries
Words of Prey
Jeffrey Brodeur worked at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and was put in charge of an Osprey Cam — a live web feed of an osprey nest near his office. Which he thought was just charming — until the mother osprey in the nest began acting strangely. (14 minutes)