il miglior fabbro

John Hayward, yet again, on "Shirtgate," in which one of the scientists who landed a space probe on a comet was brought low because of his love of bad shirts:

We get these Internet mob actions so frequently, over such trivial affairs, because they’re easy.  In an early day, staging a demonstration, or even writing a letter of protest, would have taken some effort, especially if the outcry was loud enough to be noticed  by major media.  Now it’s the easiest thing in the world to join a mob by popping off a Tweet with the right hashtag.  The cost of participation is nil, while the satisfaction gained from destroying someone’s career or forcing a tearful apology from them is considerable.

No resource has ever been less expensive to produce than Internet bile.  Forgive me, feminist legions, if I find the fate of Yazidi girls at the hands of ISIS a far more important War on Women than anything happening on Matt Taylor’s shirt.  You’re not doing the real cause of women’s rights any favors by allowing yourselves to be distracted into trivial pursuits, high-fiving each other because you made a science nerd cry.  But this is all about low-effort, high-reward entertainment, isn’t it?  As we’ve seen from the insipid online campaign against the slavers of Boko Haram, it’s not much fun throwing hashtags of shame at savages who couldn’t care less about social media campaigns.  (By the way, for any social-justice warriors keeping score out there, Boko Haram just overran the village it kidnapped those girls from.  But who cares, right?  You guys are all over the cheesecake shirt menace.)

More at the link.