Megan on the trolls

MegArdle has a really brilliant post about that (terrifying) article in the New York Times magazine about trolls. I don't have much of worth to add, so read it. I will say that the story scared me enough to genuinely consider taking this blog down, if only for a split second. (It'll take more than they have to make me live in fear, of course.) Stuff like this reminds me once again both why freedom of speech must be an absolute, and defended with excessive zeal; and also what a harsh and terrible bargain such a dedication entails. Freedom is always and only about tradeoffs, and never let me say that there are no tradeoffs to our freedom of speech. There are. They are absolutely, 100% worth it. But nothing of value comes without suffering.