what we're seeing is an abuse of the Internet's ability to allow you to hide behind a pseudonym.
This part of the discussion popped back into my mind today, when I came across this published today:
https://blog.coralproject.net/the-real-name-fallacy/ . It's a much deeper sourced article that has many of the bits and pieces I've seen about this topic over the past 2 years that debunks the anonymous factor of online spaces, including where the myth started back in the 80s.
A shorter tl'dr version (point 5 in the link), along with other common myths about online abuse is here:
https://medium.com/humane-tech/the-immortal-myths-about-online-abuse-a156e3370aeeAnil Dash's twitter account is where I saw these links today, and overall he's been a great person to follow and read.