When Friends Fight About Ideas

I have to get this off my chest or I will explode. This is my therapy session. Today, I am truly a blogger.

The internet seems to incite cowards to strike-and-flee, often under assumed names. They have no shame and no manners. I accept this as par for the course at the hands of strangers. In addition to kind words, praise, and some admiration, I am also used to a certain amount of vitriol, sarcasm, thinly veiled anti-Semitism, and to more overt demonizations of Israel, America, feminism, or of one political party over another.

Look: I received my first death threats in 1970-1971, when I began speaking out about rape and gender-based double standards in general and in psychiatry in particular. The threats continued as I led campaigns against batterers, incestuous fathers, and a host of other not-so-lovely characters. Most recently, complaints from a public library computer in Oklahoma were lodged against me with the FBI. Among other things, I was accused of conspiring to bomb Muslim holy sites (!). After talking to the agent in charge, he finally suggested that, given what I’m writing, (I sent him to my blog and website), that I might be wise to keep his number handy. I have taken his advice…Continue reading on Chesler Chronicles >>