alexandraerin:

…that is encouraging people to block their phone number and call hers and basically hang up, and flood her various inboxes with stuff.

And I cannot emphasize how much of a terrible idea this is.

Not because of anything about sinking to her level or her having a right to… whatever.

But because this is exactly what she wants. She wants to be able to show her incoming calls list to anyone who hears/receive actual criticism of her. She wants to say, “You can’t listen to those people. They’re vicious and crazy and out to get me.” and gain instant sympathy.

The people she works with at the publications she writes for and probably a lot of the officials in the Maryland Bar Association? Those people are her friends and colleagues and they’re already going to be predisposed to be on her side. They’re going to be prepared to believe that she’s the victim, and this just furnishes her with corroborating evidence.

But most of all the reason you shouldn’t be harassing her back is that Cathy Brennan is a lawyer and she has money, and that means she can afford to jump on you in a way that most of the people reading this couldn’t jump on her for doing the same thing. I have no idea nor any opinion as to whether her blog posts about conversations with the police contain any truth or not, but a legal smackdown is not an impossibility.

And no, the fact that she posted her phone number and invited people to call her is not a defense here. Even if she were literally daring people to call her up and harass her, it wouldn’t necessarily protect anyone who does so, and she hasn’t done that. She’s very careful to say she’s inviting discussion when she posts her number. 

I’ve seen the justification suggested that the more people who do it, the harder it will be to pin it on any one person… no. The more people do it, the more seriously it’s going to be taken. And “they can’t get all of us”… even if it were true… isn’t the same as “they can’t get any of us”.

Phonebombing Cathy Brennan is a bad idea. It’s a bad idea because it makes her look good to the people in a position to act on criticism of her, it’s a bad idea because it makes legitimate criticism and just plain engaging with her when she’s treating someone like garbage look like part of a harassment campaign, but mostly it’s a bad idea because it’s dangerous.

Because she has more power to hurt you than you have to hurt her.

This is what she wanted, yes. This is exactly what she was trying to incite, obviously. But it would be difficult to prove that and even if it would I don’t think that forms the basis of a legal defense.

i unfollowed them when the incitements to harass Cathy started. I would encourage anyone reading this to thinking long and hard before making those phone calls.

It is one thing to report her to the bar association for harassing you, if you have evidence, that could be a worthwhile thing to do. But a campaign to harass her back will not achieve the desired result.

(via kiriamaya)