Getting at People, Then and Now

"Doxxing" is not nice. The aim is to harm someone whose opinions you don't like by publishing his personal contact information across the internet, thus exposing him to harassment by nutters like the Antifa types.  Or by the Southern Poverty Law Center.  (Fans of doxxing seem to be mostly on the left.)  But because it is tied to the internet, that doesn't mean it's a modern thing.  The principle was put into effect prominently, for example, 185 years ago. The deed was done by none other than the seventh president of the United States, Andrew Jackson.  Famously irascible, Jackson had participated in scores of duels by the time he reached the White House, taking a bullet in two of them and killing his opponent in another.  Backing down, apologizing, or admitting mistakes was not his thing — sort of like another president we might think of. The year was 1835, and the abolitionist movement was...(Read Full Article)
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