Professor Genocide Label

Scott Galloway shares how online criticism affected him emotionally after expressing support for Israel.

"Something has really bummed me out and it's ruined my weekend and I haven't been able to enjoy my kids. It started online - someone calls me 'professor genocide.' I go on Morning Joe and I talk about my support of Israel and why I think they have a right to defend themselves. I'm very pro-Israel, and thousands of comments that I don't care about children. People start referring to me off-handedly as 'professor genocide.' It fucking rattles me. There's just no getting away from it.

I've gotten much better. I don't engage in comments anymore. I read the first ten to get a feel for what they think and I try to learn from them. But what I found is most of the really vile content or comments, if you click on them, it's a bot - it's 'dog face one zero one' with three followers. So I try not to take it too seriously. It affects me less than it used to, but it still does affect me. It still has the ability to bum me out.

But at the same time, you can't be a sociopath. It also makes me really happy - I get a lot of positive feedback, and I try to register that emotion as well. I try to appreciate that people are nice enough to take time and say something nice in the comments. I also get a lot of really constructive feedback that I learn from. I don't mind pushback as long as it's civil and thoughtful. The notion that it doesn't get to me? Oh no, it absolutely sometimes gets to me. It just gets to me less now. I am a little less focused on the comments - the sewage system - and also I got off of X, which helps a lot."