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Comment by jkot | Hacker News Reader

Physical lynching is relatively common in India. And online lynch mob is responsible for a few suicides in western countries as well.

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I would say that "online lynch mob" is not possible. There's a big difference between being consistently and doggedly harassed, and being physically murdered by a vicious mob.

By term "physical lynching" doesn't make sense. The act of lynching is physical in and of itself.

Its redundant, but that doesn't mean it doesn't make sense.

Right, it's redundant. Like this comment.

what about the tangible impact being doxxed or outed publicly online can have on your career and relationships-whether justly or unjustly? are buzzfeed authors the new keepers of morality and justice?

Yeah, I even heard people in an online lynch mob say that. Alas:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching

> Lynching is an extrajudicial punishment by an informal group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, or to intimidate a minority group. It is an extreme form of informal group social control such as charivari, skimmington, riding the rail, and tarring and feathering, but with a drift toward the public spectacle.

It is and it's a horrible thing to inflict on others. Innocent as well as guilty. It's savage. It's worse than ordinary murder --it has the imprimatur of the crowd (and the host society at large).

Yes it does happen with frequency in some places, yet it is a terrible reminder of how savage we humans can be to one another.

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