Is this the greatest ever response to online trolls?

An Australian Muslim woman, Dr. Susan Carland, who says she has become accustomed to the “stream of toxicity” she received from people on social media, has now vowed to combat the haters by donating $1 for every hate-filled tweet she receives.

Carland, who was once named as one of the 500 most influential Muslims in the world, stated in the Sydney Morning Herald:

“I regularly get tweets and Facebook messages from the brave freedom-fighters behind determinedly anonymous accounts telling me that, as a Muslim woman, I love oppression, murder, war and sexism.

“Online abuse ranges from requests to leave Australia, hope for my death, insults about my appearance (with a special focus on my hijab), accusations that I am a stealth jihadist, and that I am planning to take over the nation, one halal meat pie at a time.”

Since converting to Islam, Carland revealed how she has become a target for trolls, and how she tried a plethora of way to manage their hateful comments. She has responded to them, blocked them and simply ignored them.

“None of them felt like I was embodying the Koranic injunction of driving off darkness with light. I felt I should be actively generating good in the world for every ugly verbal bullet sent my way.”

Now, Carland has decided that she will donate $1 to the children’s charity, UNICEF, for every hurtful tweet she receives, in an effort to generate some good from all hate. She says she has already raised nearly $1,000.

Carland is a professor at Melbourne’s Monash University, and is married to talk-show host, Waleed Aly. She spoke out about why she chose the children’s charity specifically:

“I particularly liked the idea of giving to UNICEF, as so often they were assisting children who were in horrific situations that were the direct outcome of hate — war, poverty due to greed, injustice, violence. These children seemed like the natural recipients for the antidote to hate.”

Since revealing her act of generosity, both the American and Australian divisions of UNICEF showed their gratitude on Twitter.

Carland, has also been praised by many other people on social media…

Carland said she’s “overwhelmed” by the flood of support she’s received from people – Muslim or otherwise.

However, she told the Morning Herald, that the trolls have not been silenced… I think the problem here is she’s encouraging people to act like assholes in order for her to fund a good cause.

The trolls are still losing nothing from continuing to bombard Carland with hate; therefore, I am sceptical about her approach. However, if so much money is being raised for a good cause, can we really complain? Although, let’s hope one day we reach the point where she has to stop donating money.