This really gets to the core of my love/hate relationship with the "weird" internet. I was an Ars-poster ~20 years ago and hadn't heard any of those rumors. Never ventured into 4chan for more than 5 minutes at a time. But I did spend a lot of time in the Gawker comment section and reading things like the Crazy Days and Nights blog. It definitely gives you a different perspective on journalism. There are so many stories which exist in a different plane, completely known by mainstream journalists but unreported for decades. It's insane.

Always reminds me of the classic 1978 Johnny Rotten interview BBC interview where he calls out Jimmy Savile. (Video features a gross Piers Morgan pretending like he never heard about Savile.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4OzI9GYag0

We don't need the white supremacy, but we as a society do need the crass asshole who's not afraid to knock down the elites by a peg or two. (And the John Stewart "jesters" of the world do not count.)

Personally I blame social media. The phenomenon of linking your online presence to your real identity is a disaster. Now instead of ignoring racist garbage from xXBoner_Lord_420Xx you see it being posted by John Smith, head of Accounting for Company Inc.