Ashley Judd is fed up with online threats, particularly on Twitter. I can relate.
After Judd tweeted support for the University of Kentucky basketball team, she was inundated with obscene, disgusting threatening tweets.
Unlike most of us who have no choice but to put up with trolls when we dare to say anything even vaguely controversial, Judd actually has the means to do something about it.
Judd now says she's taking legal action against the trolls. She appeared on the "Today Show" on Monday and said that her own tweet, the one that ticked off the trolls, might have been phrased differently. This seems excessively reasonable of her.
"Everyone needs to take personal responsibility for what they write and not allowing this misinterpretation and shaming culture on social media to persist," she said.
She then added: "And by the way, I'm pressing charges."
And who should jump in but Mark Fuhrman, that champion of free speech for everyone but those who disagree with him.
On Wednesday, Furhman told the hosts of Fox News’Outnumbered that Judd did not have a case if the threats were made during the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
“She doesn’t have a case because it’s March Madness,” he opined. “It’s college basketball. It’s the playoffs. All bets are off, all laws don’t apply.”
“So, you can threaten a woman with physical and sexual violence?” Fox News host Andrea Tantaros asked.
“This is my personal opinion,” Fuhrman insisted. “During basketball, during March Madness, if you don’t want to play then shut up. This is March Madness. Everybody’s getting out their best picks, the top four. You know, this is the time you lose money on basketball. And everybody’s crazy.”
You know, if Fuhrman had decided just to STFU and do his job instead of popping off with racist epithets when he was a swaggering LAPD detective, OJ Simpson might have been in jail a lot sooner. So perhaps he should take his own advice and STFU.
Also, this whole basketball bracket thing is insane. At least, to me. Not madness. Insanity. When people are so passionate about the outcome of a competition that they are telling other folks to shut up, calling them vile names, and making threats, it's just out of control.
