The Internet Trolls Are At It Again

There is really no way to quantify how terrible Internet trolls are. Threats, intimidation, and harassment from the web’s bottom-feeders aren’t anything new, but the lengths to which they will go to stalk, harass, and bully people who have the audacity to type words on the Internet are becoming more and more troubling. Fat activist and filmmaker Lindsey Averill started a Kickstarter fund to help create a documentary that showcased the work of activists in the body positive movement. The film, called Fattitude, set out to expose “how fat hatred permeates our popular culture, spreading the message that fat is bad and in turn forwarding the idea that being cruel, unkind or downright unjust to a fat person is acceptable behavior.”

Since asking the Internet for help in developing this amazing project, Averill has been the target of heavy trolling and harassment from anonymous users on 4chan and other web forums. According to the Daily Mail, the rape and death threats began to flood in soon after the fundraiser kicked off. People ordered pizzas to be delivered to Averill’s home, and she was forced to change her phone number due to the number of hateful calls.

A troll even took her video promo for the film and spliced it with new footage to load on YouTube under the title "Cakes: The New Comedy Hit." That troll's edit was cut with racist, anti-Semitic, and violent imagery. Averill tried to get the video removed by filing a complaint for copyright infringement. The troll struck back, sending her a tweet telling her to retract the complaint 'or else.'”

Because Lindsey is a badass, she said that the bullying has just shown her how incredibly important Fattitude really is. As someone who has also been the target of fat-hating trolls, I wish I had one zillion dollars to give to Averill for a global release of this documentary.

If you’re interested in supporting Fattitude, make a donation on Kickstarter, To date, the page has raised over $34,000 of the $38,050 goal.

Image: kickstarter