Schilling Applauded for Holding Online Trolls Accountable, but Should He Have Learned a Lesson Himself?

As someone who dabbles in opinionated discourse on Twitter, I sort of like to think that I have learned how to use — and not use — it as I’ve developed my own set of self-imposed social media rules.

I break them all the time, of course, getting dragged into lengthy arguments over the most menial observations, coming to an abrupt translation about what someone is really expressing in a mere 140 characters, and perhaps the most egregious error of them all, following ESPN’s Darren Rovell.

Oh, and no kids. No photos. No names.

I have three children, all under the age of seven, and frankly, Twitter isn’t their playground. My pride in them swells every day, but this particular social media platform isn’t the place to express any of that, particularly not with a host of strangers who could either not care less about their accomplishments, or, even worse, feel the convoluted need to make disparaging remarks about them because of how they feel about me. I get that.

Why doesn’t Curt Schilling?

Let’s make it clear, what the former Red Sox pitcher did earlier this week in taking down a group of cyber-bullies who made disparaging remarks about his daughter was a worthy pursuit of online vengeance. The offensive online commentary was triggered by Schilling’s Twitter-based congratulations to his child for getting accepted into college. Such an accomplishment would be a point of pride for a parent, but this moment included the modern twist of Schilling being able to deliver the message to 116,000 followers in a forum where he’s managed to make waves with his personal views on an array of topics. Indeed, Schilling’s persona on Twitter is just as brash and bold as it is offline, a genuine approach that is often lacking in athletes and members of the media, who more often than not come off as forced, promotional, or plain boring.

Schilling embraces the way that Twitter allows him to converse with others. It is the service’s most integral feature, lest you’re a bot, or narcissist, and there are plenty of both. At least from a sports perspective, Twitter at its most basic level is like hanging out at the sports bar, making sarcastic quips, questioning coaches’ moves, and sharing the overall experience with others. It’s just stupid fun. Until you make a snide remark about Danny Amendola and get the defensive Patriots mafia on your back.

Now imagine you’re Curt Schilling and instead of debating the role a diminutive wide receiver, you spend your time online bringing politics and creationism to the table of discussion. You’re probably going to tick off more than a small segment of sports fans.

And that’s fine.

Schilling has been someone who stirs the pot since he emerged as one of the great major league pitchers of our generation. But it’s when he fails to maintain civil conversations on such divisive topics that he makes enemies. Remarkable for a man who just went through a serious bout with mouth cancer, there seems to be no amount of education, or science, in this world that will shake some of his beliefs. To his credit, in remission he’s remained as bombastic as ever, blindly Republican and demeaning toward anyone who isn’t in tune with his staunch political views, no matter if they’re nothing close to what he assumes they might be.

But Schilling has also had some questionable moments himself on Twitter (ESPN New Hampshire’s Christian Arcand’s account of how Schilling eventually blocked him is an interesting one for sure) and hasn’t always displayed much in the realm of the “accountability” he has preached in the days since this latest incident in a blog post and media appearances. That’s not to suggest that Schilling should have expected to reap what he sows, especially not in the vile regard that a select few responded following the well-wishes to his daughter, but that he should better understand what kind of cesspool social media can be, particularly in the hotly-debated circles like the one Schilling has traveled in himself.

What did he expect would be the response when he brought his daughter into it?

Of course, he should be able to congratulate his daughter without fear of triggering a backlash, but that’s simply not the reality of the depravity that social media can foster. The fact that he clearly doesn’t understand that reality or chose to ignore it only makes the whole situation ripe for a repeat. In response, Schilling put on his cowboy hat and took on the lowlifes this time, but there’s always going to be a next time for him now, seeking the soaring approval ratings he received in doing what any father would have wanted to do if someone said similar things about his daughter.

The Sports Hub’s Michael Felger has been taking a lot of heat over the last couple days for declaring that this whole affair was a “preventable tragedy” and suggesting half of the problem is Schilling’s presence on Twitter itself. Now, Felger isn’t exactly the right person to be criticizing social media seeing as the man speaks like your great-grandfather when it comes to even the most benign social media enterprises shared by most of his middle-aged colleagues. And when one blowhard has an opinion on another blowhard, agendas can get in the way of logic.

But he’s right on this matter: If Schilling actively dispenses opinionated views to strangers and tangles with trolls on Twitter, he has to be prepared to receive this sort of ugly treatment, no matter how uncalled for the disgusting responses may be.

That sucks, but it’s the reality of social media if you allow it to become such.

If Schilling wants to brag about his daughter, there are certainly other private forums in which he could do so among friends and family who will actually appreciate and share in some level of the same happiness a father has for his child. But he should have learned long ago that half the people that engage with him on Twitter are simply there to try and cause havoc. Just as many are there because they dislike him and his opinion as are there to thank him for ’04. Knowing that should give Schilling restraint and pause, especially when taking about a child.

Schilling should be applauded for seeking vigilante justice in a world where trolls can too often remain anonymous, but there was a lesson for both sides here. While everyone else is taking the time to pat him on the back, I wonder if he’s even made note of that. Or is he instead waiting for the next time he can take on Internet bullies in his incessant need to play the hero yet again?