As probably most of you know, this past Tuesday evening there was a controversial event at Smith college.  The Smith Republican Club invited a speaker named Ryan Sorba to give a lecture entitled “The Born Gay Hoax”.  Before and after the actual event, Smith’s online forum which is part of the “daily jolt” website was overrun with postings about the controversy.  The postings were mainly questions about what would be the proper action to take against the speech and the concept of free speech in reference to the event.  Sorba’s speech was ultimately met with a massive, raucous protest using queer activism protest techniques meant to silence the voice of Sorba, who’s lecture was meant to deny queer people of our identity, and ultimately our voices.  Protest techniques such as chanting, sitting with backs facing the speaker, and public displays of affection were utilized.  Many of the protesters were close friends of mine who felt their efforts were successful, as Sorba eventually left the room unable to share his speech.  I am curious about the daily jolt forum’s role in this controversy.  I believe this forum created a space for dialogue about the event, but I also believe that the anonymity of the forum created a problematic divide between people who were opposed to the ideas that Sorba intended to articulate in his speech.  Some of the buzz words that have come up in postings about the event are “ashamed” and “inappropriate” in reference to the protest tactics used, as well as “you gave him what he wanted”.  Furthermore, outside of the online forum, these words were used again by Smith students in a Hampshire class of mine today when we were asked to describe the incident.  Controversial situations usually produce buzz words, due to the amount of communication that surrounds them.  The forum brought this dialogue into our dorm rooms, our classrooms, and essentially anywhere that a computer could be accessed.  I found myself reading and posting about the issue in the early hours of the morning, and the late hours of the night, when I would normally be sleeping.  The amount of dialogue that went into this event was facilitated by the use of the daily jolt forum.  I hold strong to the belief that the protest was empowering and successful, and many of the posts on the daily jolt struck a rough chord with me personally, yet I believe that they were necessary.  I am glad that such a broad dialogue was created about this event, and I hope that it continues to infiltrate our thoughts and conversations.  I think that although the forum spurned a lot of passionate interactions and the exchange of opinions, that in order for it to be effective, it should be brought outside of the anonymous digital world of the daily jolt.