Online "Threats"
Animals are not humans, nor do I believe humans to be animals. Although humans are much more capable of doing things that animals absent of self-actualization seldom, if ever, do, animals tend to be much more deliberate in their behaviours compared to humans, who by comparison are much more wanton and thoughtless of the meaning behind their actions.
If you encountered an animal that feels threatened, especially in the wild, it will likely flee from you upon first encounter. In most scenarios, this is particularly true if it has minimal exposure to humans. If it is surprised and in a situation where it is not at a distance where it feels safe, it will likely become far more aggressive. But it is still unlikely to attack right away. Most animals do not know what humans are capable of, but they can typically sense if a creature is a predator or prey. If they feel as though running away is not an option, bears will make themselves seem huge by standing on two legs, wolves will bare their teeth and snarl, peacocks will flare their plumage, and so on.
With extremely rare exceptions, what they will not do is engage in predatory behaviours towards humans. They want to be seen as a threat, and will make violence the last resort. The threat of intimidation has a similar purpose in the Kingdom Animalia compared to that with humans. Except the vast majority of humans are no longer in the same environment where intimidation and threats have the exact same purposes and functions. There is a separation, however, between the warm-blooded and cold-blooded. Reptiles and amphibians do not function the same neurologically as the rest. Humans who actually mean harm are more likely to act like this, particularly in the online sphere.
Most internet moderators nowadays, or “jannies”, derogatorily, act as though threats online are a grave, actionable sin and must be punished. This is especially noticeable on larger social media sites which feature very little moderation from actual humans. If you threaten to gouge someone’s eyes out with a spoon or to brutally slaughter your friend who knows you are joking, it doesn’t matter. They will likely punish you for it, presenting themselves as having done some great paragon of virtue. If you wanted to kill a politician as well and threaten to blow their brains out over their office, openly signaling about how you are a huge threat would be the worst way to go about it. Thus, anyone who is serious, and not mentally retarded would not go about doing it in this manner.
The people who bluster about killing people who say something that displeases them, going crack their skulls open, or otherwise hurt them in same way online almost always are just blustering. It is not genuine predatory behaviour. From what I have observed, and from my own experience online, if someone wants to act maliciously towards someone else, it seemingly comes out of nowhere, like a predator stalking its prey and catching them unawares.
If I’ve expressed my own displeasure by threatening someone – sometimes in a comical manner - it has not been me intending to seek out that person and ruin their life somehow, even if I feel disdain or hatred for such a person. I am confident this holds for virtually everyone who habitually makes threats online. Although I have not been to prison myself, from what I know, if someone threatens someone else, it is not all bluster. It is a more serious environment, without the same charades and social niceties precluding real life. That’s not to say that they don’t exist, but the same sense of carelessness that may apply online or even real life does not extend there.
Threats have a purpose. Some are more legitimate in action than others. The online sphere has enabled humans to act threatening, often without having much to back it up. Internet janitors love to take credit for keeping people safe with their automated systems that are incapable of thinking critically, claiming they have done their part to keep people safe, because you threatened the very realistic scenario of strangling someone with their own intestines while they drown in a pool of their own blood.
Be less afraid of the bear roaring and the wolf snarling at you. Be more afraid of the snake that’s about the bite you in the grass that you can’t see through.