I don’t know either of the participants in this tragicomedy of 140 characters, but that’s irrelevant. The fact is that “calling someone out” on the internet – and on Twitter, doubly so – lacks testicular fortitude. Balls. Cojones. Beitzim.

If someone snubs you, you have the right to be offended, but god damnit, don’t be so passive aggressive about it. You want to throw down? Throw down. Throw down in person. Waiting until you get home, and then writing about it on Twitter is just – well, see above, re: balls.

And if you want to throw down the gauntlet afterwards in response? Go for it. But do it in person.

The problem with people – and there are many, and this is but one in a very long list of disorders, syndromes, maladies and neuroses – is that we’re animals. Confronted with a hostile situation, our brain releases adrenaline and our bodies get ready to fight or flee. When you can yell at a person – physically, face-to-face – your adrenaline is expended. You feel better.

When you fight on the internet, your adrenaline just sticks around. Your body’s like, “Uh, so, you’re just going to sit there and pound on your Mac’s keyboard? Really? I just released enough juice to power a friggin’ cheetah. Seriously?”

The internet has made it easier to be passive aggressive and childish. Our body’s haven’t adjusted, and aren’t satisfied by an “all out, no-holds-barred internet flame-war.”

It’s easy to be a douchebag online, but if there’s anything I’ve learned from The Real Housewives of New Jersey, it’s this: sometimes you gotta just flip tables over.

I think you’re pretty much on the money with your analysis here, it takes two to tango and neither of them handled it well.
Jessica unnecessarily put herself on Loren’s radar with her ‘Everyone hates him’ tweet, Loren’s Lexus paid link tweet was a fair remark delivered with his trademark roughness. She went after Michelle (which apart from being a cheap shot, was pretty lazy; there are a dozen wittier, more appropriate responses that I can think of off the top of my head) and Loren lost his shit and went after her kids, followed by some of the most aggressive tweets I have ever read, all of which has probably done him some long term damage as well.

Ultimately, if you don’t start nuttin’, there wont be nuttin’

What I think is fair to say is that Loren tends to point out a lot of negative stuff on the web. Frankly, I enjoy someone pointing out all the BS out there. Every blog and commentator I read is so positive…”my startup is the next Google”….”Facebook will cure Cancer”….”Twitter will free Iran”…it’s nice to have someone out there who points out this ridiculousness. If you don’t like it, don’t watch him.

And regarding this case, if you don’t like the guy, don’t start a fight, and then continue to fight with the guy. Jessica doesn’t need to call a lawyer. She needs to sincerely apologize to both Loren and his wife. Possibly…just possibly…that might help the situation. Claiming to be afraid just highlights her victimization which, my guess, would only make Loren even more determined. But I can’t speak for him.

No wonder Jessica’s frightened by his threats.

In this case, Jessica had every opportunity to let things go but instead she kept on escalating the rhetoric to a point where she called his wife a whore. From what I’ve read, he called Jessica a whore because she gives up her blog posts for product placements (i.e. money). That’s a big difference in terminology. Loren is calling her a blogger sellout and she’s calling Loren’s wife a prostitute.

I’m not defending Loren. As you can see, I personally don’t use language like that and am more of a peacemaker. What I’m saying is that Jessica knew what she was getting into and continued. I agree with Andrew on this one. I think she did it for the attention.

What she did not to was threaten to destroy him and his family and enlisting an army of helpers to do it.

He crossed the line into psychosis, and I don’t blame her for being frightened and consulting a lawyer.

What I really don’t understand are all the people who have rushed to his defence, seemingly happy to ignore the fact that his response to her dumb insult was deranged and frightening.