ESPN Aids Authorities in Arresting a Man Accused of Making Threats Against Children in a Post about Lebron James

For over a decade it’s become apparent that an Internet connection and the seeming anonymity that goes with it tends to turn even the weakest of minds and muscles into a snorting web presence that boasts of the ability to take on all comers. Now, you might have to think twice before flexing that imaginary e-muscle.

Again, we don’t know if Yee is an example of such — if this was an isolated incident, or the latest in a series of worrying posts that set ESPN off one too many times — but it’s worth repeating that the same common sense you might use when bagging your produce at the local supermarket amongst strangers might be also best utilized while pretending to be a tough dude in comment sections that can reach thousands.

Did ESPN overreact? Did the authorities, with that outrageous $1 million bail, overreact? Is this a concerted effort to send a message to comment section kids — be they chatting about sports, entertainers, politics, or Internet memes of all types — using Yee as a scapegoat? Or, as most comment section types write it, “escapegoat?”

Possibly, at least in the early going and before we’re privy to the evidence against Yee.

Any movement on this front, though, is a good thing. Violent threats against anyone should be taken seriously, because nearly two decades into this Internet fad (and it is a fad, kids, soon to be eclipsed by virtual reality or whatever the next cool CD-ROM will hold) a bit of responsibility has to be in order for those that get to duck down in front of that laptop and just spew away irrespective of any semblance of tact, poise, and reason.

It’s not Big Brother. It’s your big brother, slapping you on the back of your head and telling you to stop acting like such a damned punk.

 

Article Appeared @http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/espn-aides-authorities-arresting-man-accused-making-threats-152742600–nba.html

 

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