Defanging the Homophobosphere

[Hazumu]

—Hannah Lobel

The quandary is what to do about it. Sullivan and others make a convincing case for a First Amendment free-for-all: You have take the good with the bad. Besides, other commentators often end up dampening antigay flamers. "Call it free-market tolerance," says the Advocate.

At boingboing.net, Jardin and her colleagues have another approach: disemvowelment. When their comment moderator spots a nasty comment, she hits a button that removes all the vowels (and much of the bluster). So "Xeni is a transgender Lebanese terrorist, and her butt is big" becomes "Xn's trnsgndr Lbns trrrst nd hr btt s bg." What once was irrational animosity becomes a slightly amusing puzzle.

"It's like they're flinging poo at you," Jardin says. "You still let them fling it, but the poo doesn't stick anymore."