About the recent lost of artists and attacks

Long wordy post warning, but I feel this needs to be said and written.

I usually don’t post things like these here since I am mainly just an art and captions blog but from watching recent events this needs to be said and shared. We are and have always been a bit of fringe community which is small. So when we start to lose artists and contributors this should be a cause for concern us all. While from time to time some will drift away as interest and time commitments change and real life obligations this is normal. What isn’t normal is the number of people that have closed accounts and stopped posting due to harassment and targeted attacks. When they are driven away we lose their talent and passion, not to mention what these attacks and actions to do their mental and physical health. In many cases this can lead them to stop doing something they loved such as producing art or literature or becoming isolated to avoid contact with the negativity. We need to protect these resources because once people are driven away they seldom if ever return.

You maybe asking yourself okay so what can I do there are trolls all over the internet and this is nothing new? Well yes, there are plenty of trolls and the levels of attacks and harassment varies, but we should never tolerate them. Some can simply be ignored and they will go away, others are more aggressive and lewd and should be blocked and reported. Most sites and service providers these days are starting to have a much lower threshold and tolerance for harassing behavior. Some have even escalated to the point where the authorities will need to be involved, because their actions are now over the line into criminal / felony realms. Should you start to receive or watch others post threats of violence please please report them immediately, most platforms will work to remove the person and ban them while documenting what maybe need by law enforcement. 

I am a strong believer in civil discourse and understand that from time to time certain topics will elicit strong emotional responses, but you can have passion without personal attacks. The point and time you feel the need to use threats of violence or exposure against someone over artwork or literature perhaps maybe you should be the one to re-evaluate your belief system. 

Thanks,

~Sassy