Politics is contentious, war by other means, and the internet allows every teenager to post whatever snark they’d never say in person behind the cloak of anonymity. Remember, “virtual” means not real. Thus, “the internet” is not an anthropormophized thing that takes autonomous action to respond to things. It is a reflection of society including its ugly parts, racism, sexism and homophobia. Allowing political campaigns to define your reality is a very dangerous thing.

No matter how far we “progress” to tamp down the oppressions, racism, sexism and homophobia, there will always be a residue that will remain at some level. Above and beyond any campaign, we’ve got to figure out how to deal with this in a healthy manner as society at large abandons such oppressive structures but they remain remnant within smaller and smaller clusters.