Swatting is an act of domestic terrorism

So I’ve been in the deepest, darkest corners of the internet for many years. I used to browse these websites casually and didn’t really participate much but when I became enamored with the online community that I was a part of, I started to participate a lot more and began to know a lot of the users there personally.<br><br>They were the most toxic, cringe, and pathetic people I’ve ever met in my entire life. They were all so narcissistic, took themselves way too seriously, and many of them had delusions of grandeur. The weirdest part was how every single one of them tried to claim some kind of white supremacy while half of them were non-white lmao<br><br>I used to think that identifying as something you’re not was just a part of our culture until I realized most of them never actually took part in the shit they were claiming to know a lot about, and then proceeded to call themselves something they weren’t for clout.<br><br>When I began to realize how shitty they were, I began to distance myself from them, and they began to act very hostile towards me. They started to swat me, and I got my address doxxed, which I was able to get removed but that didn’t stop them from swatting me at my school. I was doing very well academically, and they continue to make life hard for me because I decided I didn’t want to be a part of them anymore.<br><br>I lost count of how many times I’ve been swatted, but they continue to harrass me to this day. They claim it’s all in good fun, but it really isn’t. They’ve cost me a lot of time and money I don’t have, the police at my city hate me, and they are making life miserable for me.<br><br>A lot of the users there give me threatening messages that I should kill myself or that I’m better off in a mental institution. I’ve better off without them but the fact that they’ve done this to me makes me feel worthless that no matter how hard I try to better my life, these strangers who don’t even know me will stop at nothing to ruin any glimmer of hope I have.<br><br>This experience has left a very bad taste in my mouth and I know there’s not much I can do aside from trying to get them to leave me alone. With the way the internet is now, I know I’m not the only one who has been subjected to this kind of bullying and harassment. They aren’t just doing it to me, but many others. You don’t have to experience this to know how bad it is.<br><br>This is the same shit that a lot of celebrities and public figures get on a much larger scale. I can’t imagine how they feel when they continue to get swatted despite their fame, wealth, and power. But they are people too, not invincible robots. They too have families that they care about and I can’t imagine what it’s like to be subjected to that.<br><br>There’s no excuse for this behavior, it isn’t a prank, it isn’t a joke, it isn’t cool, it isn’t funny. It is an act of domestic terrorism. It kills people, it destroys lives, it is a massive waste of resources. The people who engage in that behavior are fully aware of what they are doing and know that it can cause harm, and they fully accept that. They will happily ruin your life and laugh at it, but then when you fight back, they start to cry and act as the victim.<br><br>Those shitholes will continue to thrive and flourish until they are dealt with accordingly. You can’t “kill” them with kindness or better yourself, you can’t better yourself when they will stop at nothing to destroy you. The only way to better yourself is to get them to leave you alone, but you can’t do it by yourself. You need to seek help from others to get rid of this bullshit.<br><br>I’m really hoping a lot more stringent laws are brought up to deal with this since all of these incidents can be prevented, and I’m not talking about the kind of laws that are brought up to prevent freedom of speech, I’m talking about laws that are brought up to protect people like me who are just trying to live our lives peacefully. I’m really hoping that I can better my life without these people ruining it for me.