If you weren’t initially aware that some immature, chauvinistic baseball player “graciously” tweeted about his dissatisfaction with Mo’ne Davis’ success, I’m sure you were brought up to speed when the media went crazy with publicizing her response. Rather than act like the 13 year old child that she is and resort to name calling or bickering with a grown man who was very clearly not acting his age (or shoe size); Mo’ne chose the route of forgiveness. After she forgave, she took it a step further and even asked that he be reinstated at the university that just stripped him of his scholarship for his vile behavior. I mean geez…it really doesn’t get better than that. Her actions underscored just how much of a class act she really is. If her memoir, shoe endorsement & philanthropy weren’t enough to prove that she’s a special young lady, this has to. Her behavior should certainly be applauded and I hope young kids (and adults) aspire to display the courage she repeatedly showcases. I really do love Mo’ne Davis and all that she stands for.
But this article isn’t really about her. I mean it’s obviously a little bit about her, but it’s mostly about that tweet and why it really is important that Joey Casselberry NOT be reinstated as a member of the Bloomsburg baseball team. I’d bet $100 million dollars that Joey had never met or even come close to meeting Mo’ne before he took it upon himself to call an innocent child a slut. He had no knowledge of her personal affairs or of anything about her that would warrant such name calling. And yet, miles away from a girl he’d never met, he took it upon himself to defame her. He chose to undermine a child’s accomplishments with vulgar language used to shame grown women. Why? Well, other than the fact that he’s obviously not too thrilled with his own existence, he took it upon himself to try to tear Mo’ne down because…the internet.
It’s no secret that for years, and years, and years….and years, men have made it their duty to objectify and shame women who are sexually liberal in ways that they don’t approve of, who exude power in ways that make them uncomfortable, and who…just exist. Men have been calling women whores, sluts and other names which I choose not to write in this space as a way to label and subjugate them since forever. This, while sad, is nothing new. What is relatively new is the internet and social media. Both of which allow men to spew their hateful language from the comfort of their own homes to women they’ll probably never meet. Social media gives men, who probably scream at the sight of spiders, the gumption to send tweets and comments to women that might get them punched in the face if they uttered them in person. Social media encourages and gives the illusion of anonymity to bullies. I am convinced that there has to be some little twitter devil that hops on the shoulders of these men and shouts “tweet that, yeah go on…nobody’s gonna know it was you. That’s hilarious! It should get you AT LEAST twenty retweets.” I mean how else do you explain how men seem to lose all inhibition when they’re given 140 characters or a computer screen and a keyboard?
It’s all sad really and shouldn’t be tolerated. It isn’t fair that women and girls are subjected to the shear sexism and the form low-class (I mean no-class) use of the English language that exists on the internet. Being a man with a computer shouldn’t afford you the right to place women under verbal attack. While the Constitution says that you can say just about anything you want, there ought to be societal laws/norms in place that establish that certain virtual actions and language will not be tolerated. That’s why Joey shouldn’t be reinstated. His reinstatement would say that it’s really no big deal for you to verbally abuse children. It would send the message to little boys finding their way on the internet that you can really say and do whatever you want as long as it’s just a tweet or a comment under a pic. If Joey is man enough to attack a young girl, he’s man enough to figure out how to come up with tuition money. It’s not ok to verbally abuse another human being in person, or on the internet.
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