Journeys among the Mo’ne Davis trolls

The optimal metaphor for all things Internet, in the end, is already settled. The Internet is a garbage barge floating idly around a bay on a hot day, with brightly colored birds periodically alighting on it. But if we can indulge a sub-metaphor: Twitter, when it works, is something like a city in which you can rent for free in the neighborhood of your choice, and which you will populate with the neighbors you most want to have scream jokes at you all day long.

That was supposed to sound appealing, because Twitter is generally pretty fun and good, but also even good cities have places in them you wouldn’t go -- bars you’d hate, neighborhoods you’d just as soon avoid for a number of reasons, parties to which you can count yourself blessed not to have been invited. It’s one of many things he does on Twitter, but @FanSince09’s self-appointed role in Twitter City is to go to those terrible bars and awful monster-patrolled neighborhoods and super-shitty parties and then report back on all the terrible things he sees there.

On Wednesday night, @FanSince09 stopped in at the usual places to see whether there were people saying terrible things about Mo’ne Davis, the 13-year-old ace that has otherwise captivated the nation with the force of her implausible awesomeness. You can probably guess what’s next.

This will probably not shock you, even if Twitter isn’t a place you spend a lot of time. People are people, and people -- especially, it seems, awful high school boys -- can be even worse on the Internet than they are in real life. That sort of idiot venality and pettiness is @FanSince09’s business, and business will always be good. I asked him some questions about his travels among the Mo’ne Davis trolls, and why he does what he does.

So, you unearthed some prime specimens on Wednesday night. How did you decide that it was necessary to find the mutants who were somehow upset or actively angry about Mo’ne Davis? And, while I can guess that you found these champions by searching for “Mo’ne Davis bitch,” how did you decide which ones were worthy of a retweet and which were not?

One of my followers pointed me towards the rock and I kicked it over. I know people are terrible, so the search terms are just me going “I bet someone’s calling Mo’ne Davis a bitch” or “I bet someone is questioning whether or not she’s a lesbian.” I’m not usually super choosy about who I retweet. I usually try to get everyone unless they’re clearly joking or a gimmick account.

It’s anecdotal, and I know you’re more of a @FanSince09 than a social scientist, but what did you notice about the people that were really upset about Mo’ne Davis/happy that she didn’t have her best night? Who were these people, where were they from, and what did they seem most pissed off about?

Sports brings out the worst in people in regards to how they view the athletes. There’s this “We pay their salary so they should do what we want” sense of entitlement that has been made worse now that fans have direct access to players on Twitter. Look at any athlete’s tweet. I’d say half of it is praise/people begging for retweets, and then there’s just some of the worst stuff you could imagine.

What shocks me, and shouldn’t really shock me, is that ANY athlete is fair game, even a 13-year-old girl. There’s something about a grown man calling a 13-year-old girl a bitch that I just find horrific. It sends shivers down my spine.

White men really don’t like when women and POC do anything in a way they perceive as cocky. You see it all the time when certain players are called “thugs” or “bad for the game.” Then throw in a girl playing a “boy’s game” and it’s a recipe for Twitter disaster. So, you had grown-ass men complaining that a 13-year-old girl wasn’t humble enough for their liking. Either “she thinks she’s so good” or “I can’t wait until she’s put in her place.” One guy bashed Mo’ne’s cockiness, and then two tweets later praised another kid for “pimping the hell out of that homer.” These are always men with their children in their pictures too.

The single worst thing I found was people wondering whether or not Mo’ne was a lesbian. 1. Why you sexualizing a child? 2. Who cares? Overall, though, I think the reaction to Mo’Ne has been overwhelmingly positive, except for this seedy underbelly.

A lot of the people you RT’ed, just from my casual survey of it, appeared to be seriously awful teenagers. Obviously they’ll grow out of the teen bit, and quite probably the super-shittiness bit, too. Is there any trepidation on your part in putting these people out there? Obviously they’re choosing to call a 13-year-old girl they haven’t met a bitch and speculate in ugly ways about her sexuality and et cetera, but they’re generally doing so for their own small, unfortunate audiences. What is it that led you to make an example of these particular geniuses?

I get asked this a lot. I think people, especially kids, don’t understand that what you say on social media is out there forever. Anyone can find it, anyone can call you on it. Saying terrible things is one thing, but two clicks on their timeline I can find their names, school teams, jobs, et cetera.

There have been times in the past that I’ve retweeted student athletes, usually hockey players, saying horrendously racist or homophobic things. My followers have even emailed coaches, principals, and so on. A lot my followers do think this is harsh, but I think it’s actually a good outcome, as they’ll learn that it’s not acceptable to spew this sort of stuff without suffering consequences. It’s better they learn it now instead of when it costs them a job.

You spend a lot of time in the lower sub-sewers of Twitter, mostly because you seem to have adopted it as your awful, awful duty in some way. What led you to look to see which hemorrhoids were shit-talking Mo’ne Davis in real time?

People are awful. We can’t have nice things.

Everyone on Twitter sort of knows about how low it goes -- the horny weirdos and bigots and other assorted and sundry CHUDs. You’ve spent a lot more time among those people than most, and a lot of what you do is based on the idea of giving them their turn in the spotlight. At the risk of being too broad with it, why do this? And what have you learned in your travels among the mutants?

To be honest, I don’t know why I did it. Originally I did it because it was funny, but now I think I do it because I want everyone to know what kind of people are out there. I want to show that the people who think this is okay [also] use their real names and photos.

The big thing I’ve learned is that nobody really understands the First Amendment. You can’t be thrown in jail for hate speech, but people don’t have to sit around and put up with you doing it.