Rage Against the Minivan Blogger in NYT Motherlode

[AnnC]

NYTime Parenting/Motherlode Column 2/5/2016

When a Public Family Is Publicly Attacked

http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/02/05/when-a-public-family-is-publicly-attacked/

The mommy blog Rage Against the MiniVan has been discussed on FJ (years ago).  Now she is getting attention as a result of attacks in social media from racial groups.

  

 

 

[Mercer]

This is awful. Racialized attacks toward anyone are reprehensible, but when it involves children it's the lowest of the low. There's no excuse for the hatred that has been directed toward this family.

Regarding Kristen Howteron in general: I don't agree with the amount of personal information and identifying details she shares about her family online. I know that she asks her children's permission for what she shares, but I don't think a child can fully comprehend the permanence and widespread availability of information on the internet, so I don't see how their consent can be truly informed.

That said, I think she has done some really important work by educating her many followers about adoption and global issues, and I give her props for that. 

[FutureA]

Pretty awful indeed.She has a pretty good mommy blog going and while I wouldn't ever post up pictures of my adopted kid or their story, she has used her experience in her journey to create a big following of mommy bloggers.

She was trying to provide an "alternative reaction" to her bio kids getting dark skinned dolls for Christmas to some video of white kids disapproving getting the same thing. The videos brought out hundreds of white supremacists attacking and trolling her on YouTube and Twitter with pure hate. It will be interesting to see if she stands up to the attacks as they are ongoing. 

[Mercer]

I worry somewhat for the Howertons' safety with what's going on. I'm only a very casual reader of the blog (I read some posts every few months,) but even I know exactly what her children look like, all of their real first names and their last name, what fairly specific area they live in, what their house looks like, and what type of school the kids attend. I'm sure a more regular or more focused reader would be able to piece together even more. I don't think it would be that hard for someone with bad motives to put all that together to track them down.

Of course I hope no one would do that, but I hope they're taking some safety precautions and that the parents will maybe give some future thought to whether they're sharing too much.