Thread by @paularcurtis

For 6 months East Asia scholars have been harassed by ultranationalists on Twitter. We've received nonstop messages (even threats), while a ringleader insists *we* are harassers. So here's the evidence for how @sachihirayama has targeted @astanley711 & me. docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…

I focused on Amy & me because we've been targeted by this person with particular hostility. These lists of tweets show that she tweeted at or about us 400+ times, combined. This does NOT include replies to her followers, which often occurred several times over on every thread.

It also does not include her constant retweeting of her followers when they agree with her or take similar actions to her, like screencapping our media, professional profiles, linking to our pages/tweets, contacting employers, etc. These would triple or even quadruple the number.

One of the things that you'll notice as you peruse these links is that there is a cycle--she will obsessively tweet about us for several days, then stop, get obsessed with some other person or company that slights her, but inevitably return & begin to recycle old material.

The purpose of this is to keep followers angry. To keep them coming at us. To keep anger towards us and hot button issues constant. To generate an *image* of the ultranationalists as victims who are under constant attack for their misinformed views.

The claims that we are harassing her come with screencaps that are months old, when we haven't interacted with or talked about her since then. But the *idea* that we do is being used strategically. Claims that they are perpetual victims justify this behavior to them & each other.

Make no mistake, this is about attention, not history. This is about personal vendettas, not actual injury. This person & her followers are desperate for relevance, and thus have to constantly stir the pot. The logical fallacies are too many to count. The goalposts always moving.

It doesn't matter how many times we put forth the facts--the do not read them. It does not matter how many times we tell them their arguments are bad faith--they do not acknowledge that. It does not serve them to undercut themselves with reality.

They pat themselves on the back that we block them, "running away," while they simultaneously perform shock and awe and insult that we block them. They get indignant that we block them, but also already blocked us in return. The cognitive dissonance is thick.

And as futile as it is to engage, it's important to highlight & recognize this kind of behavior, as well as call out bad history & disingenuous arguments. We need to learn to read these patterns, to recognize them, and to dismiss the claims while not dismissing their seriousness.

This is why we take the time to make something like the document linked above. @TwitterSafety & @TwitterSupport & @TwitterJP cannot be relied upon to address the damage being done by these people, and the effects reach beyond social media. As historians, we take that seriously.

So please, look through this mere sampling of the most direct chaos we have endured for 6 months. The attempts to intimidate us & damage our careers. Learn from it. Report liberally. And, just as important, take no shit from bad faith actors. 400+ tweets later, we're still here.

Here's the link again, in case you don't want to go upthread. Hilariously the preview is using the original title I gave the file. docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…

Might I add, if you find yourself with the urge to tweet about or at someone 62 times in one day you might want to reconsider your relationship with social media.