Monica Lewinsky spoke today at the Forbes Under 30 Summit in Philadelphia. In preparation, she joined Twitter with one simple tweet:
— Monica Lewinsky (she/her) (@MonicaLewinsky) October 20, 2014
Her purpose now is to speak out against cyber bullying. She is, perhaps, the first known victim of it, an intern who suffered world-wide humiliation and has literally not been seen or heard from since about 1998.
Today, she spoke about her experience. Via People.com:
“Frankly, I came close to disintegrating. No, it’s not too strong a word. I wish it were, but it isn’t,” Lewinsky, now 41, said Monday at the Forbes Under 30 Summit in Philadelphia. “A relentless mantra in my head: I want to die.”
Recalling the public reaction that suddenly exploded all around her, Lewinsky said, “Overnight, I went from being a completely private figure, to a publicly humiliated one. I was patient zero – the first person to have their reputation completely destroyed worldwide via the Internet.”
To do this is brave and admirable on her part. She is trying to turn her humiliation into something productive so that others don’t have to suffer. And while she did receive lots of support today, she also had to deal with the trolls and internet bullies that prove exactly why we need her as a voice against cyber bullying.
One of the many uncalled for jokes:
https://twitter.com/keatingthomas/status/524319609445289985
The Washington Post compiled some real gems that you can read if you want to.
This could not have been easy for her, but to stand up to cyber bullying, you have to go where it lives. And it lives on social media, festering until it explodes. The thing is, there is probably nothing anyone can throw at her that is new. Do you think there’s a blue dress or blow job joke she HASN’T heard? Probably not.
So, not only will we get to see the trolls of the internet attacking her for wanting to do something positive, we’re going to have to deal with them using jokes from 1997 that we’ve already heard a billion times. I hope they are proud of themselves!
