It often seems that commenters on the Internet do not think twice before posting a racist or abusive comment. In Brazil, they decided to combat the phenomenon of cyberbullying in a most creative way: They put hateful Facebook or Twitter posts on billboards where the commenters live in cities around the country, after omitting the commenter's name. The advocacy group behind the campaign realized it is not particularly difficult to locate the commenter's area of residence since Facebook notes the location where comments are posted. The idea for the new strategy was sparked by racist remarks made against Maria Júlia Coutinho, the first Afro-Brazilian meteorologist on prime time TV. The campaign was called "Virtual Racism, Real Consequences", and it was started by Criola, a civil rights advocacy group run by Afro-Brazilian women. The campaigners hope to make the abusive commenters realize the implications of their words and the fact that virtual racism can have a very real impact. Perhaps we should consider similar action here. (The image shown is from the Brazilian campaign: A commenter wrote that he came home smelling "like a black person"; the activists put up the Facebook post on a billboard near his house).
