(09-28-2023, 03:15 AM)Schmoe Wrote:(09-27-2023, 10:49 AM)Grace Wrote: ...
I was on a hobbyist forum for years. The forum was a place politics wasn't allowed unless it was directly related to the hobby and then it had to be to the point so the forum itself was a pretty safe place. Because it was a hobby forum, there was a group of us that had one another's addresses and real information because we'd mail one another things.
Most of those on the political left post 2015 would occasionally make political comments and generally if it was a one off comment it would be left alone, only if it started a fight would it be removed from the lounge area threads. One by one I watched everyone on the political right get banned due to taking the bait and getting drawn into a fight.
One of forums permanent members was an elderly Catholic woman, harmless in every way. One of those in our little group called her a racist among other things one day. I sent a PM to ask WTF and he went off on how people on the political right should be killed - literally killed - for our political views.
I actually got scared. You can't really help but kind of know where everyone stands politically anymore even if politics isn't the topic and he was literally, whether he realized it or not, PMing me telling me I deserved to die, and that if he could he'd be happy to do so with his bare hands.
This is someone who knew my name and had my address and if he'd been paying any attention at all knew where I stood politically.
I left that forum over it. I realized this pretense of all being friends was nothing but a lie I had bought into.
...
Yikes, I'd have definitely felt uneasy too, after a message like that, and knowing they know where I live. People are just crazy anymore. You can talk to someone for years, a friend, a coworker, etc, but you don't really ever truly know them. Probably the only people you truly know are your parents, siblings, spouse, and kids. People you live with.
You see stories here and there, about that serial killer who was a pillar of the community. It's just nuts.
S'ok. She lives with me, and if that fella ever did show up, well, we've got enough ground for a few shallow graves, or enough abandoned mine shafts to handle it if I don't feel like scratching a grave out in the dirt.
OR - there's an ancient abandoned cemetery on the hill above the house that no one remembers any more. It's in deep woods, can't even be seen from the air. I don't think anyone would notice an extra grave in it, since they've probably not been counted since about 1870 or so, and no one even knows whose buried there any more. One guy says "Indians", another guy says "slaves", but no one really knows who they are. One more wouldn't even be noticed.
Better for him if he just blows it out his ass online.
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