I fed the troll

Well guys I broke one of the top internet "rules". I fed a troll. Sometimes I just can't help myself.

It all started when I tweeted about Julien Blanc who is a "pick-up artist". Julien teaches men how to pick-up woman with such tactics as the "choke opener" which is exactly what you think it is. You go up to a woman and put your hand around her throat. Why say hello when you can just put your hands on her? He also suggests grabbing a women's head and shoving it towards your crotch. Julien even posted videos and photos of him doing this to women with the hashtag #ChokingGirlsAroundTheWorld. He also teaches men how to have sex with women who have said they are not interested. That sounds like rape to me.

There has been an uproar on social media about his upcoming tour and many venues have cancelled his events and his work visa has been pulled in Australia. I believe there are petitions in the UK and Canada to have his visa pulled in those countries as well.

Now regarding my tweet. I tweeted that the "choke opener" is basically assault. Let's look at the definition of assault.

"Generally, the essential elements of assault consist of an act intended to cause an apprehension of harmful or offensive contact that causes apprehension of such contact in the victim." - source

After my first tweet about Julien Blanc there was a man who tweeted back at me saying that calling it assault doesn't "sit well" with the claim that the problem is that these men fly under the radar.

I shouldn't have responded but I did. If you check my twitter you can see the back and forth. There was no name calling involved on either side but clearly this guy would never see my point. After his last response about grabbing a women's hand to save a child I knew that he wasn't even being logical about the argument but he would just keep going because he rabidly believes he's right. If you look at his twitter most of his tweets are responding to people who have spoken out against Julien and the pick-up artist culture.

I am not a fan of the pick-up artist culture. Sure there might be a few guys out there teaching other men how to approach women in a respectful way (and I am ok with that) but most of them teach men how to be aggressive and/or "trick" women into giving into them. I do not agree with any personal threats against Julien Blanc. I do think it's important to raise awareness about the dangerous tactics Julien is teaching. I'm glad venues have cancelled his events after the public outcry.

I need to try to be better about responding to trolls. There is no point to it. It always ends up in a back and forth argument that goes nowhere. I just have a lot of opinions and I have a hard time keeping them to myself.