The heart of Chloe Angyal ’09’s Perspective (Feb. 6) on catcalls is the victimization meme, “If I’m experiencing difficulty, it’s someone else’s fault.” We don’t always have the composure that empowered Isaiah Cox ’94’s wife (letters, April 6), but we alums do have the ability to think things through.
Ms. Angyal emphasizes only one aspect of the iHollaback.org global movement: posting photos of gender offenders on the Web. This method harks back to puritanical shunning, and also appears to be an example of what Jaron Lanier referred to in the January Smithsonian as “twitchy social networks” that have the potential to become virtual lynch mobs.
Imagine the following: One hears a catcall, glances back or up, whips out a cellphone camera, and posts the perp’s image for the world to see and shame.
Considering the rapid sequence of events, is anyone so self-righteous as to believe there will be 100 percent accuracy in identifying the offenders? The Sixth Amendment may not be operative in Australia, but they do have libel laws there.
Harassment is annoying even at a distance, but calling for a crusade tends to cloud judgment. Perhaps Princeton’s distribution requirements should be revised to ensure that all graduates understand the distinction between “If I’m being threatened, then I feel uncomfortable” and “If I feel uncomfortable, then I’m being threatened.”