32BitsOnline: Voices From a Slashmouth

“D: You remember Jon Katz’s Hellmouth series last year?”

“K: About the Littleton shootings?”

“D: It wasn’t about the shootings themselves, but about what
happened around the country afterward. He spoke of how fears of
“trenchcoat mafias” ignited irrational fears. That geeks and goths
and other “misfits” became the subject of much unwanted attention
just because they weren’t popular or athletic, and about the
difficulties of being a teen who just doesn’t fit it. Jon Katz
wrote some Slashdot articles about what was happening, and he got a
ton of e-mail from people all over the country experiencing similar
persecution.”

“K: Sure, I remember — you made me read those articles . . .
but that was last year.”

“D: Right, well, the Slashdot guys took Katz’s articles and many
of the Hellmouth posts and compiled them all into a new book called
Voices from the Hellmouth. They announced it Thursday — the
anniversary of Littleton.”

“K: So what’s the problem?”

“D: Well, it’s about the posts they published… they published
them anonymously and without the permission of the posters.”

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