"Beware of the angry white male public intellectual"

"When we talk about online trolls, we tend to cling to the stereotype that they are anonymous types who wield little power offline. These are the kinds of trolls we associate with GamerGate or the men’s rights movement. But we need to start acknowledging that men with real power and authority are fostering online harassment. Such public intellectuals are perhaps even more dangerous—both because they give online harassment a larger and more mainstream audience, and because they give those campaigns the stamp of moral or intellectual seriousness.

Dawkins is certainly not alone. Consider the case (sigh) of the Bernie Bros...

Thoughts on whether women who report being harassed in Sanders’s name are “obscenely weaponizing” their experience or merely “describing what is happening” may vary. Regardless, the debate about whether Bernie Bros exist seems odd, given that they are not a shadowy, reclusive bunch. In fact, the community has coalesced around several well-known, left-leaning journalists. These include Doug Henwood of The Nation, Matt Breunig of liberal think-tank Demos, and a long succession of men (H.A. Goodman, Walker Bragman, Shane Ryan) who have advocated for a Republican victory in the event of Clinton’s nomination in Salon."

http://qz.com/613574/beware-of-the-angry-white-male-public-intellectual/