I've been noticing a trend, not just among celebrities like James Gunn and Roseanne, that social media users have taken upon themselves to photograph and video citizens out in the community that are participating in what they perceive to be racist actions, then posting those photos and videos online via Twitter and other sites and asking users to retweet this person, expose all of their information, and physically attack them, or make it difficult for them to come out in public.
I've noticed people getting really riled up on these threads, eventually finding the information, and posting home addresses, facebook and other social media accounts, phone numbers and places of occupation and asking other users to verbally harass the "perpetrator" with the apparent end game being to ruin his/her life.
I've seen various examples of this, but one recently that comes to mind is the woman in San Francisco that pretended to call the police because an 8 year old girl was selling water bottles. The 8 year old girl's side of the story was that she was just trying to make some money for school supplies or whatever, but the woman's story was that the girl and her sister were outside her window where she works screaming at people all day. Two very different accounts of a situation. Regardless, the lady was destroyed on social media and lost her job as well as her ability to go out in public for awhile probably. Right or wrong, that's just one example.
Curious as to what others think about this practice.
However, it seems like none of these cases end up as just being a quickly-forgotten mocking. The moves that you point out -- doxxing people, demanding that their lives be destroyed without any attempt to try and seek a complete understanding of the events, and the inevitable escalation to online death threats is so spooky.
I don't know what the answer is here. People hurl death threats online all the time here -- for perceived "bad behavior" or for acting in The Last Jedi. Maybe the answer is stripping away the anonymity from social media platforms like Twitter. But, I understand that there are problems with that as well.
It's absolutely concerning, though. Really shocked at how quickly people sink to the bottom.
The racist guy at the pool from a few weeks ago that lost his job at sonoco. He may be an asshole we were only shown 1/2 of the story.
Now this is all in the wake of the metoo movement and were not completely done with the fallout there yet. More to come Im sure.
Religion hasnt seemed to work to deliver heaven on earth, maybe social media will!
So You've Been Publicly Shamed - ( New Window )
I mind my own business as much as much as possible.
They did, canning a 17 year old on a Summer job.
Well done white knight!!
It is fucking ridiculous. Not just the posting, but that companies don't tell those morons posting things to go pound sand.
A couple years ago, a woman in my neighborhood went on social media ranting how her son was being bullied, being called hurtful names, and was being physically abused by peers. While my wife and I were talking about it, my kids said it was the exact opposite way around. The kid was constantly hitting others on the bus, calling them names and starting trouble. In fact, the reason the woman went on social media was because her son was kicked off the football team for using a racial slur and he gave her a bogus story.
Her rant went viral, so since I have contacts in the schools, I dug for the facts and wrote a column in the local paper about how her claim was complete BS and gave a specific account of what transpired. Unfortunately, there isn't often a rebuttal and people only see and react to one side of a story.
By the way - the kid who was supposedly bullied ended up getting a football scholarship to Virginia Tech, where he was dismissed from the team his freshman year for - wait for it - using a racial slur
They did, canning a 17 year old on a Summer job.
Well done white knight!!
It is fucking ridiculous. Not just the posting, but that companies don't tell those morons posting things to go pound sand.
A couple years ago, a woman in my neighborhood went on social media ranting how her son was being bullied, being called hurtful names, and was being physically abused by peers. While my wife and I were talking about it, my kids said it was the exact opposite way around. The kid was constantly hitting others on the bus, calling them names and starting trouble. In fact, the reason the woman went on social media was because her son was kicked off the football team for using a racial slur and he gave her a bogus story.
Her rant went viral, so since I have contacts in the schools, I dug for the facts and wrote a column in the local paper about how her claim was complete BS and gave a specific account of what transpired. Unfortunately, there isn't often a rebuttal and people only see and react to one side of a story.
By the way - the kid who was supposedly bullied ended up getting a football scholarship to Virginia Tech, where he was dismissed from the team his freshman year for - wait for it - using a racial slur
But, but, but these people should be shamed forever!!!
Short of regulating speech there's no easy solution -- one good way to contribute change is to ask yourself; are my contributions in the public square rooted in honesty, civility, fact, a desire to learn, a willingness to change my mind and listen? A good collective injection of decency would be a wonderful start.
I wonder what the folks who were erroneously identified on line as the probable Boston Marathon Bombers think about that.
What about the people that might not be racists and bigots? Like the lady in San Francisco? Do you think it's possible that she might have just have been a normal person having a bad day, and had an 8 year old kid screaming outside her bedroom window for hours on end, and wasn't racist but just had a noise complaint? Is that reasonable to believe her? She didn't even call the cops. She just pretended to. Is that something you could see yourself possibly doing in her shoes? What if it had nothing to do with the kid being black but rather just the fact that she was being loud outside her window all day while she was trying to work?
Is that unreasonable behavior that should cost her everything (She was a CEO in San Francisco who lost her job).
So much stupid in such a small post. Well done.
Short of regulating speech there's no easy solution -- one good way to contribute change is to ask yourself; are my contributions in the public square rooted in honesty, civility, fact, a desire to learn, a willingness to change my mind and listen? A good collective injection of decency would be a wonderful start.
Those tools can also cause damage, emotional, financial and even physical, to innocent people by the guilty hiding behind anonymity.
The problem is there is no due process. All you need to do is accuse someone of being a bigot with flimsy or manufactured evidence and the mob gets riled up. Just recently that waiter admitted he was the one who wrote the racist message on that receipt he posted online, not the customer.
We don't need to go deep into the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, but you can point to the slew of women, minorities and people of a certain sexual persuasion who weren't just publicly shamed, but often killed from a false accusation. Petty squabbles led to hangings. The Salem Witch Hunt.
Basically, very little good comes from public shaming, especially in modernized countries with efficient police forces.
So now lets see this for what it is. He made some stupid sarcastic jokes on twitter but he did it repeatedly. Kind of weird but fine. He also hates a certain someone who alot of hollywood doesnt care about. (he will remain nameless but important)
Now if he was extremely vocal in favor about this certain someone, no one would be defending him. NO ONE.
So I look at it like this, shut up everyone. Stay away from twitter. Honestly, it isnt worth it
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The bigots and racists are being outted, its a good thing for society....These people should be shamed forever
The problem is there is no due process. All you need to do is accuse someone of being a bigot with flimsy or manufactured evidence and the mob gets riled up. Just recently that waiter admitted he was the one who wrote the racist message on that receipt he posted online, not the customer.
And the actual facts will never receive the attention that the false accusation did.
Ultimately, the online social mob figured out their identities by cross referencing flight charts and seats and whatever other shit they do, and identified these people.
What if there was no romance, but it was just a made up narrative by this bored couple. Imagine being the boyfriend of that girl and seeing all that. What if she was in an abusive relationship and her boyfriend beat the shit out of her talking to another man when she got home. I know that's a bunch of what if's, but it's no more crazy than creating a completely fictional love story as a bystander.
In simple terms, like my wife's facebook posts. She'll spend 10 minutes trying to get the perfect picture of my children who are being awful at the time, hitting each other, crying, not doing what they are supposed to... She'll take 20 pictures and capture the perfect moment, and then post that one. And I'm thinking to myself, that's not how that really went down.
So now lets see this for what it is. He made some stupid sarcastic jokes on twitter but he did it repeatedly. Kind of weird but fine. He also hates a certain someone who alot of hollywood doesnt care about. (he will remain nameless but important)
Now if he was extremely vocal in favor about this certain someone, no one would be defending him. NO ONE.
So I look at it like this, shut up everyone. Stay away from twitter. Honestly, it isnt worth it
His job is making movies for kids. I still dont see why people are surprised about it or think it isnt justified. Hes slandering his employers audience, jokes or not. Hes bad for business, at the very least.
and it's not just private citizens or racist activities.
I mentioned this in another thread. There was this guy at a Cubs game over the weekend where a player threw a ball to a kid in the crowd, the ball went under the kids seat to a row behind him and a man picks up the ball and keeps it.
Video of this made it to twitter and the mob justice ensued. It was shared, rewteeted, liked and commented on by millions of people. Comments were like "let's make this guy famous", "what a pig" "have we identified this SOB yet" and even some political comments and I have no idea from the video how anyone knew anything about the man's politics.
the comments were actually embarrassing, you could feel the outrage coming through the screen. People wanted to kill this man. Or realistically have him fired, beaten, and publicly shamed.
The Cubs did give the kid an autographed ball b/c of all the attention and they showed him walking out of the stadium with two balls.
Anyway the Cubs got wind of the story and after they went to the section then the story changed. Apparently this man got a ball earlier in the game and gave it to the kid and he had been helping other kids in the section get balls from the players all game. Many people that were sitting in that section stuck up for the guy.
USA today ran with it....
USA TODAY Sports
Verified account @usatodaysports
Jul 22
The Cubs made things right after an adult fan shamelessly stole a baseball from a kid.
David Kaplan
Verified account @thekapman
I spoke with people from the Cubs. The man who grabbed the ball on the widely seen video had actually already helped the little boy get a ball earlier. The young man has a game used ball and a Javy Baez ball. All is well. Guy is A-OK so let it go people.
and deadspin encapsulated the mob mentality well in the linkbeow.
Pervaiz Shallwani
Verified account @Pervaizistan
23h23 hours ago
"The clip...was long enough to infuriate, short enough to strip context." Essentially the internet today: https://deadspin.com/sounds-like-everyone-should-lay-off-that-cubs-fan-who-1827798042?utm_medium=sharefromsite&utm_source=Deadspin_twitter
Link - ( New Window )
And it's small in comparison to some other out of context activities. How many people do you think saw the USA today story and all the others about the "horrific act" this man committed?
I say in the millions.
How many do you think saw the retraction or corrections?
my guess is in the thousands.
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Public shaming and mob mentality are as old as humanity. In some ways social media makes it more efficient with easier tools and a sense of anonymity. But those same tools also help shine a light on great injustice and injury.
We don't need to go deep into the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, but you can point to the slew of women, minorities and people of a certain sexual persuasion who weren't just publicly shamed, but often killed from a false accusation. Petty squabbles led to hangings. The Salem Witch Hunt.
Basically, very little good comes from public shaming, especially in modernized countries with efficient police forces.
I'm not advocating the efficacy of public shaming.
I'm saying the tools that allow it - social media, open public dialogue, a free market place of ideas etc. are the bedrock of change and progress.
Short of limiting speech, which I presume no one wants, change will have to come from the intent and practices of individuals.
And it's a completely fictional account of what happened! That's not how it happened. Perfect example of what I'm talking about.
Agree, I saw that story from almost every baseball beat writer and national publication. with the gif image playable.
We are in agreement on this one.
In some cases exposure can be good and warranted, but you almost only ever get one side in cases like we're seeing.
I agree with this. But isn't creating a false narrative based on small snippets of video almost the same as what they say they are trying to counteract? Even if they are still catching some bad guys? Almost like police planting evidence on victims? Would that be an acceptable analogy of what doing that is like?
In simple terms, like my wife's facebook posts. She'll spend 10 minutes trying to get the perfect picture of my children who are being awful at the time, hitting each other, crying, not doing what they are supposed to... She'll take 20 pictures and capture the perfect moment, and then post that one. And I'm thinking to myself, that's not how that really went down.
This right here...
Another issue is she sells Marijuana while the little girl sells water. There are also thousands of black people doing life for possessing, selling Marijuana just to add (3 strikes law)
Link - ( New Window )
I do a lot of work with analytics, and lately a lot of sentiment analysis, looking at text and deriving an overall sentiment. There are background check tools that can look at everything someone's ever done online, and quickly pull together an overall score of that individual - and that score is used to determine whether or not they should be hired.
In testing one of them, I ran the tool against a colleague of mine (he was aware of this). He's one of the nicest guys I know - and the tool branded him a racist. Why? Because digging back into tweets he made in HS, he went through a 'I'm white and from CT but I think I'm an inner city rapper' phase, and there was some gratuitous use of the n-word.
If the tool were in place before he was hired, he wouldn't have gotten the job. All for some stupid but harmless posts made when he was 16 years old.
I think there's validity to what christian posted - these are tools, and it's not exactly their fault that people are using them wrong. The problem is people aren't likely going to change, and this is just going to make their behavior worse. Unless as a society we step back from these mass shamings, I'm afraid we've only seen the start of the destruction caused by social media.
Another issue is she sells Marijuana while the little girl sells water. There are also thousands of black people doing life for possessing, selling Marijuana just to add (3 strikes law) Link - ( New Window )
Okay, so she actually placed the call. But even still, is that racist? Or equal to somebody having a bad day and going too far with a noise complaint?
Secondly, didn't she sell medical Canibus Oil for dogs? Is that the same as what you're saying everybody is imprisoned for?
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She did call the cops . video posted.
Another issue is she sells Marijuana while the little girl sells water. There are also thousands of black people doing life for possessing, selling Marijuana just to add (3 strikes law) Link - ( New Window )
Okay, so she actually placed the call. But even still, is that racist? Or equal to somebody having a bad day and going too far with a noise complaint?
Secondly, didn't she sell medical Canibus Oil for dogs? Is that the same as what you're saying everybody is imprisoned for?
All I did was give you a point of view of black people.
I also could of thrown out how many white kids have gotten the cops called on them for selling water. How many white people gotten the cops called on them for trying to use a coupon at a store, using the wrong grill etc. What's going to happen this week
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In comment 14020119 charlito said:
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She did call the cops . video posted.
Another issue is she sells Marijuana while the little girl sells water. There are also thousands of black people doing life for possessing, selling Marijuana just to add (3 strikes law) Link - ( New Window )
Okay, so she actually placed the call. But even still, is that racist? Or equal to somebody having a bad day and going too far with a noise complaint?
Secondly, didn't she sell medical Canibus Oil for dogs? Is that the same as what you're saying everybody is imprisoned for?
All I did was give you a point of view of black people.
I also could of thrown out how many white kids have gotten the cops called on them for selling water. How many white people gotten the cops called on them for trying to use a coupon at a store, using the wrong grill etc. What's going to happen this week
She said it ultimately boiled down to a noise complaint. The thing about selling water without a permit was stupid, and the act of somebody overreacting. But what ultimately started it was a noise complaint. I think plenty of white people have had the cops called on them for noise complaints. I know I have.
I don't see the comparison between being the CEO of a company that sells medical cannibus oil to canines and people being imprisoned for selling weed.
inciting violence against them or posting non public or health information about them is obviously taking it too far.
my concern is that as deepfake videos become more prevalent and sophisticated, there are going to be more innocent people who get unjustly swept into these mob reactions.
inciting violence against them or posting non public or health information about them is obviously taking it too far.
my concern is that as deepfake videos become more prevalent and sophisticated, there are going to be more innocent people who get unjustly swept into these mob reactions.
Agreed.
when I was a kid, one neighbor used to call the cops on us for playing stickball in the street. Or if a ball went into her yard she'd call for a trespassing complaint. When I lived in an apartment, neighbors used to file complaints on certain units for noise violations every weekend.
That's more about being a shitty neighbor than the color of their skin.
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In comment 14020119 charlito said:
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She did call the cops . video posted.
Another issue is she sells Marijuana while the little girl sells water. There are also thousands of black people doing life for possessing, selling Marijuana just to add (3 strikes law) Link - ( New Window )
Okay, so she actually placed the call. But even still, is that racist? Or equal to somebody having a bad day and going too far with a noise complaint?
Secondly, didn't she sell medical Canibus Oil for dogs? Is that the same as what you're saying everybody is imprisoned for?
All I did was give you a point of view of black people.
I also could of thrown out how many white kids have gotten the cops called on them for selling water. How many white people gotten the cops called on them for trying to use a coupon at a store, using the wrong grill etc. What's going to happen this week
I'm not sure about water, but white kids are having the police called on them for selling lemonade. Apparently they haven't navigated the local bureaucracy and gotten the multiple permits required. Check out yesterday's WSJ for an article on it. The have a picture of the perpetrators, white kids age 7 and 4.
no race distinction, there are stories out there if people care to find them (some publicized more than others) of kids of all races having the police called on them for illegally operating a lemonade stand and the police having to shut it down.
People are assholes. that's not something that has happened since social media.
but, in a good use of social media, Country Time got wind of some of these stands being shut down because of asshole people and said show them proof you were shut down and they will pay any fines.
no race distinction, there are stories out there if people care to find them (some publicized more than others) of kids of all races having the police called on them for illegally operating a lemonade stand and the police having to shut it down.
People are assholes. that's not something that has happened since social media.
but, in a good use of social media, Country Time got wind of some of these stands being shut down because of asshole people and said show them proof you were shut down and they will pay any fines.
*stands* not standard
Add to that the fact she lied about not making an actual call to the police and you have someone who's not being honest about her reasons for doing what she did
Exactly. You never know what came before. I have also seen people purposely instigate with their phones ready
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In comment 14020129 Britt in VA said:
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In comment 14020119 charlito said:
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She did call the cops . video posted.
Another issue is she sells Marijuana while the little girl sells water. There are also thousands of black people doing life for possessing, selling Marijuana just to add (3 strikes law) Link - ( New Window )
Okay, so she actually placed the call. But even still, is that racist? Or equal to somebody having a bad day and going too far with a noise complaint?
Secondly, didn't she sell medical Canibus Oil for dogs? Is that the same as what you're saying everybody is imprisoned for?
All I did was give you a point of view of black people.
I also could of thrown out how many white kids have gotten the cops called on them for selling water. How many white people gotten the cops called on them for trying to use a coupon at a store, using the wrong grill etc. What's going to happen this week
She said it ultimately boiled down to a noise complaint. The thing about selling water without a permit was stupid, and the act of somebody overreacting. But what ultimately started it was a noise complaint. I think plenty of white people have had the cops called on them for noise complaints. I know I have.
I don't see the comparison between being the CEO of a company that sells medical cannibus oil to canines and people being imprisoned for selling weed.
Coupon Carl video
I agree she just overreacted. but I posed questions to whether white people go through the same thing.(wrong grill,coupon, hard foul on the basketball court etc.). I'm thinking these headlines are fake, but are true. Smh.
Link - ( New Window )
Add to that the fact she lied about not making an actual call to the police and you have someone who's not being honest about her reasons for doing what she did
Okay... All I'm saying is that the destruction of this woman's life doesn't fit the "crime". The girl was selling water to buy a trip to Disneyland.
Austin denies screaming, and says the situation should have never escalated to calling the police.
"Let kids be kids," Austin said. "If they're not hurting anybody, who cares?"
Austin's daughter says she does plan to keep on selling water.
As for the trip to Disneyland, musician Jonathan Brannon saw the story and has already paid for Rodgers and three of her family members to go whenever they'd like.
The woman has her life ruined, and the girl gets a free trip for her family to Disneyland. Happy ending I guess.
Link - ( New Window )
But I will say that while Cubs guy was wrongly trashed that same medium that stirred up the anger towards him also worked to correct the situation. The thing that amazes me about it is the majority of those on Twitter who posted about this dogging the guy don't seem to acknowledge to well that the guy was wrongly vilified over it AFTER the facts came out.
Ball tossed to little girl gets taken by woman - ( New Window )
The biggest issue I have with it is that I don't think a good chunk of these people that actively participate in these social media mobs have these genuine principled value. I think they're getting off on the virtue high of calling somebody else a horrible person. They're feeding off the validation of ganging up on another person in a group. It's not really about social justice but about tapping into a pretty ugly pathology that's present in all of us.
"Social media" is neither. These platforms are manipulative, addictive, and are harming society. I recommend the documentary, "Terms and Conditions May Apply"
[and get off my lawn]
The biggest issue I have with it is that I don't think a good chunk of these people that actively participate in these social media mobs have these genuine principled value. I think they're getting off on the virtue high of calling somebody else a horrible person. They're feeding off the validation of ganging up on another person in a group. It's not really about social justice but about tapping into a pretty ugly pathology that's present in all of us.
Great point, and closer to what I'm getting at overall.
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Was her second or third different excuse for calling the cops. Keep in mind this was not a situation where the girl was parked out there day and night pitching water. This occurred right outside the Baseball stadium in SF during working hours after the game was done to the crowd exiting the stadium. So this was maybe a 1-2 hour occurrence during working hours after a baseball game in a major city with thousands of people exiting a game and making noise also.
Add to that the fact she lied about not making an actual call to the police and you have someone who's not being honest about her reasons for doing what she did
Okay... All I'm saying is that the destruction of this woman's life doesn't fit the "crime". The girl was selling water to buy a trip to Disneyland.
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Ettel told the Huffington Post that she acted because Rodgers and her mother were screaming, but that after watching the video she feels "horrible and heart-wrenched." She also said, "I completely regret that I handled that so poorly. It was completely stress-related, and I should have never confronted her. That was a mistake, a complete mistake."
Austin denies screaming, and says the situation should have never escalated to calling the police.
"Let kids be kids," Austin said. "If they're not hurting anybody, who cares?"
Austin's daughter says she does plan to keep on selling water.
As for the trip to Disneyland, musician Jonathan Brannon saw the story and has already paid for Rodgers and three of her family members to go whenever they'd like.
The woman has her life ruined, and the girl gets a free trip for her family to Disneyland. Happy ending I guess. Link - ( New Window )
Absolutely it did not fit the crime. But I think the way she handled this when it blew up contributed greatly to her resigning from the CEO position of her own company.
The optics of a woman who started her own successful company calling the cops on a little girl trying to make money selling water was a big factor also
But I will say that while Cubs guy was wrongly trashed that same medium that stirred up the anger towards him also worked to correct the situation. The thing that amazes me about it is the majority of those on Twitter who posted about this dogging the guy don't seem to acknowledge to well that the guy was wrongly vilified over it AFTER the facts came out. Ball tossed to little girl gets taken by woman - ( New Window )
I read somewhere that confirmation bias will lead you to shun facts, but once presented irrefutable facts most people will relent their position.
But you're right, when you read that story, people stick to their guns. And I read a lot of the initial tweets and threads about that story and so many political comments. How the F did that story have any political lean to it?
even after this link, people still were convinced this man was evil and deserved to have his life ruined.
what we're dealing with now on social media is like when a microbe becomes immune to the vaccine and mutates into a new form and resists the vaccines thriving and snowballing into something bigger with no known antidote.
This guy got a raw deal, but the people around him, the Cubs, deadspin and other media outlets, all came out relatively quickly to make amends.
The bottom line is that people of color have lived for years with being followed in stores, or having people cross the street away from them, or waiting to be served, or being passed by an open taxi. And now that's not good enough for some people in this country. Now they feel emboldened to say out loud what they used to keep to themselves. To actually tell people of color how they feel instead of just griping to their racist friends. It is a very alarming trend...
"Social media" is neither. These platforms are manipulative, addictive, and are harming society. I recommend the documentary, "Terms and Conditions May Apply"
[and get off my lawn]
I keep my FB page up because people use it to invite you to parties and other events but I have not posted anything for two years just because of what people are saying on this tread.
Unfortunately, it is not enough to stay off social media. You have to monitor and make sure false info is not floating around about you.
And as someone who worked in personnel for many years, I strongly recommend that you do not let anyone take a picture of you when you are out drinking or partying.
"Social media" is neither. These platforms are manipulative, addictive, and are harming society. I recommend the documentary, "Terms and Conditions May Apply"
[and get off my lawn]
I'm at a point with FB where I might look at it every couple days to check up on friends and relatives but even then you still run into the toxic political shit on there. It's become something that younger kids and older people use but has lost a huge sector of the 20-40-year-olds demographic with what it has morphed into.
Both my kids and their friends rarely use it at all at this point
There is no question about that. I thank God there was no social media during my younger years
This guy got a raw deal, but the people around him, the Cubs, deadspin and other media outlets, all came out relatively quickly to make amends.
The bottom line is that people of color have lived for years with being followed in stores, or having people cross the street away from them, or waiting to be served, or being passed by an open taxi. And now that's not good enough for some people in this country. Now they feel emboldened to say out loud what they used to keep to themselves. To actually tell people of color how they feel instead of just griping to their racist friends. It is a very alarming trend...
Yup
The shit that guy had to deal with really makes you see how depraved race relations were.
Here's his wikipedia page:
Major Taylor - ( New Window )
Coupon Carl video
I agree she just overreacted. but I posed questions to whether white people go through the same thing.(wrong grill,coupon, hard foul on the basketball court etc.). I'm thinking these headlines are fake, but are true. Smh. Link - ( New Window )
I can't link the WSJ article cited in my 10:33 post because it's a pay website. But to answer your question YES, white people go through the same thing.
I then deactivated my account for 14 days. Then I finally submitted for deletion of account.
It actually feels good. Like taking a bunch of old crap in the house to the dump or to Goodwill. Yeah I'll lose touch with some people but the people I truly want to stay in contact with will be worth the effort to do so.
The shit that guy had to deal with really makes you see how depraved race relations were.
Here's his wikipedia page: Major Taylor - ( New Window )
Sidebar: Little-known BeezFact - I lived about 2-3 miles from the Major Taylor Velodrome on the West Side of Indy in the early '90s. Back then I was quite into cycling (not good, mind you, just into it - I lived with and hung out with some buddies who were actually good). More than a few times while out on a ride, we'd swing past the velodrome, ride inside and put in some laps. Not easy, due to the insane angle. But it was cool (we thought). Much different type of cycling than we were doing.
OK ... back to the thread.
I never knew Indiana's past, but a few stories I've come across recently make it out to be one of the most racists places out there in the early 1900's.
We are all way too plugged in. I removed the twitter app from my phone after finding myself constantly hitting the refresh button throughout the day. I dont need it & I need to be deliberate in my use. This goes for everyone.
I never knew Indiana's past, but a few stories I've come across recently make it out to be one of the most racists places out there in the early 1900's.
You don't have to go back to the early 1900's...
I never knew Indiana's past, but a few stories I've come across recently make it out to be one of the most racists places out there in the early 1900's.
When I was sports editor at the Columbus Republic, again, in the early 1990s, there were two high schools in the city of Columbus, Indiana (North and East high schools). They played in a league with Martinsville High School, and there were no black kids at Martinsville. The town (also known as the birth place of John Wooden, ironically) was (may still be?) also known as an origin for the KKK.
When the Columbus North and East teams played Martinsville, at any of the venues, they beefed up security significantly (a fair amount of diversity in the Columbus area).
I wrote a column that appeared Friday morning one of those years, basically saying what a travesty it was that in 1992-93 or whichever it was, there was a need for the extra security for a high school football game. Around 6 p.m. a voice message was left on the editor's phone with a death threat for me. lol SO CLOSE! (The editor didn't get the message until Sunday when he came in to do his weekend clean-up/review.
Columbus/Martinsville/Indy formed a triangle, each one separated by roughly 40-50 miles.
Haven't been back for a long time. Can only hope it's better. Curious to know what Martinsville, Indiana, is like in 2018.
+++
Another thing I saw in my 7 years in the Midwest ... as a member of the media I attended a KKK rally at the town gazebo in Jeffersonville, Indiana (across the border from Louisville) ... had never seen anything like that. Some amazing things, my favorite being the reporter from the U of Louisville black student newspaper who seemed to take great pride in making the KKK members very uncomfortable with some straight-ahead questions.
Think about how this would play out today. In several races that Taylor was in, riders would intentionally crash him. Once, he was 300 yards from winning and a bystander ran out and threw a bucket of ice water on him,. knocking him off the bike, causing him to come in 10th place. Once, he won a race and was choked out by the 2nd place rider. While Taylor recouperated in a hospital for a week, the rider was given a $50 fine (which was less than his 2nd place finish) and no suspension.
He was ruled to have finished 2nd in several sprint races he won as the stewards would claim he didn't finish first.
I know I go apeshit about things in sporting competitions that aren't fair, but it is really hard for me to comprehend our society was so backward towards people due to race.
I think we can be thankful to live in a much better place today and despite the current issues with social media, we seem to be moving in the right direction.
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And we're veering towards dangerous territory where people are afraid to express opinions that skew anywhere outside the social consensus. That line is getting more and more rigid as well.
The biggest issue I have with it is that I don't think a good chunk of these people that actively participate in these social media mobs have these genuine principled value. I think they're getting off on the virtue high of calling somebody else a horrible person. They're feeding off the validation of ganging up on another person in a group. It's not really about social justice but about tapping into a pretty ugly pathology that's present in all of us.
Great point, and closer to what I'm getting at overall.
This is the core value of the vast majority of those SJWers who seek to "out the 'bigots and racists". They don't care at all about the actual race, religion, creed, ethnic group or sexual orientation. All they care about is that high of sweet virtue signaling and they will defend it by posting some stupid meme about how it is a pejorative for this "little thing called having empathy (said smugly while closing their eyes and sniffing their own smell)"
Equality is a full glass and only a full glass.
And the perspective of the minority group members is the one that really matters. If they don't feel equal, they aren't equal. And that's not good enough.
The problem is that it usually comes down to subjectivity and how each individual views an incident for whether or not they feel public "shaming" is warranted or not.
I tend to lean towards this mob mentality of purposely attempting to ruin others lives is generally the wrong approach. Especially when the only information is a small sample video of someones worst moment subjectively edited by some random schlub with access to a phone.
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In comment 14020215 AcesUp said:
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And we're veering towards dangerous territory where people are afraid to express opinions that skew anywhere outside the social consensus. That line is getting more and more rigid as well.
The biggest issue I have with it is that I don't think a good chunk of these people that actively participate in these social media mobs have these genuine principled value. I think they're getting off on the virtue high of calling somebody else a horrible person. They're feeding off the validation of ganging up on another person in a group. It's not really about social justice but about tapping into a pretty ugly pathology that's present in all of us.
Great point, and closer to what I'm getting at overall.
This is the core value of the vast majority of those SJWers who seek to "out the 'bigots and racists". They don't care at all about the actual race, religion, creed, ethnic group or sexual orientation. All they care about is that high of sweet virtue signaling and they will defend it by posting some stupid meme about how it is a pejorative for this "little thing called having empathy (said smugly while closing their eyes and sniffing their own smell)"
Yeah, except for many of these things it is the person of color being harrassed or insulted that is recording it. These are not at all cases of SJWers doing anything, and they most assuredly care about their actual race, religion, creed, ethnic group or sexual orientation...
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In comment 14020215 AcesUp said:
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And we're veering towards dangerous territory where people are afraid to express opinions that skew anywhere outside the social consensus. That line is getting more and more rigid as well.
The biggest issue I have with it is that I don't think a good chunk of these people that actively participate in these social media mobs have these genuine principled value. I think they're getting off on the virtue high of calling somebody else a horrible person. They're feeding off the validation of ganging up on another person in a group. It's not really about social justice but about tapping into a pretty ugly pathology that's present in all of us.
Great point, and closer to what I'm getting at overall.
This is the core value of the vast majority of those SJWers who seek to "out the 'bigots and racists". They don't care at all about the actual race, religion, creed, ethnic group or sexual orientation. All they care about is that high of sweet virtue signaling and they will defend it by posting some stupid meme about how it is a pejorative for this "little thing called having empathy (said smugly while closing their eyes and sniffing their own smell)"
Don't limit it to one side or point of view. That problem is pervasive throughout all segments of social media.
Agree 100% with your comment. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one not loyal to a political party. Restaurants are crossing the line when they refused to serve base on political views.
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In comment 14020218 Britt in VA said:
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In comment 14020215 AcesUp said:
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And we're veering towards dangerous territory where people are afraid to express opinions that skew anywhere outside the social consensus. That line is getting more and more rigid as well.
The biggest issue I have with it is that I don't think a good chunk of these people that actively participate in these social media mobs have these genuine principled value. I think they're getting off on the virtue high of calling somebody else a horrible person. They're feeding off the validation of ganging up on another person in a group. It's not really about social justice but about tapping into a pretty ugly pathology that's present in all of us.
Great point, and closer to what I'm getting at overall.
This is the core value of the vast majority of those SJWers who seek to "out the 'bigots and racists". They don't care at all about the actual race, religion, creed, ethnic group or sexual orientation. All they care about is that high of sweet virtue signaling and they will defend it by posting some stupid meme about how it is a pejorative for this "little thing called having empathy (said smugly while closing their eyes and sniffing their own smell)"
Don't limit it to one side or point of view. That problem is pervasive throughout all segments of social media.
Agreed.
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but this new practice of urging people seek out and accost public servants when they are seen restaurants, movie theaters, or any public place because of disagreement on their views is disheartening. It used to be that we could disagree without imposing on someone's personal life. This seems to tie into a mob mentality.
Agree 100% with your comment. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one not loyal to a political party. Restaurants are crossing the line when they refused to serve base on political views.
Come election day, we can all safely voice our opinions on public officials, at the polls. 10% turnouts are disgusting. Lot to be said about, "Don't blame me, I voted for (whomever)."
Accosting public officials at non-official events or locations is just wrong. And it leads to retaliation...
But doing it to Sarah Sanders Huckabee is applauded by some of those same people.
So hypocritical. Any political retribution is because it undoubtedly goes against some stance taken in the past.
Far easier to post one-liner tweets and rile-up the masses.
Try going to the comments section on Reddit immediately after a police shooting. You'd think the entire country was against police.
It's not surprising when countered with that take many double-down. Getting told *how* you feel is a pretty good way to trigger a strong reactio.
I know when I'm told "there's no way you actually think ..." -- it usually comes off more "you're so wrong that I won't even consider your right to feel differently than me."
I first came to Alabama in 1982 to attend Army Flight training. This was so far south that when thunderstorms came, the locals boarded up the windows, because they thought Sherman was returning. I came back to another location in North Alabama for an assignment from 1992-1996, and then I moved to Alabama permanently when I retired from the Army in 2003. There were instances of racism and some very bigoted behavior, but that was not something that was considered acceptable at any time. Certainly no posted racial boundaries... Different story when I lived in Fayetteville, NC. I drove through the outskirts of a small town on a short-cut to Myrtle Beach and hit a slow down from people turning off the road under a banner for the "White Patriot Party Picnic"... that was not Alabama.
At no time in my frequent habitation and travels during this period did I EVER see segregated anything signs in Alabama. The only signs regarding color said, "No Colors", which is intended to keep gangs (and gang colors) out. Could this be what your friends interpreted?
Who was the player? As a VT fan, this is the first I have heard of it, or it wasn't disclosed
I first came to Alabama in 1982 to attend Army Flight training. This was so far south that when thunderstorms came, the locals boarded up the windows, because they thought Sherman was returning. I came back to another location in North Alabama for an assignment from 1992-1996, and then I moved to Alabama permanently when I retired from the Army in 2003. There were instances of racism and some very bigoted behavior, but that was not something that was considered acceptable at any time. Certainly no posted racial boundaries... Different story when I lived in Fayetteville, NC. I drove through the outskirts of a small town on a short-cut to Myrtle Beach and hit a slow down from people turning off the road under a banner for the "White Patriot Party Picnic"... that was not Alabama.
At no time in my frequent habitation and travels during this period did I EVER see segregated anything signs in Alabama. The only signs regarding color said, "No Colors", which is intended to keep gangs (and gang colors) out. Could this be what your friends interpreted?
Not sure. But that wasn't the conversation we were having.
It was a long time ago, but I'm still connected with her through Facebook. I'll see if I can get her to refresh my memory. I could have details wrong. I'll see what I get back.
I mentioned earlier in this thread that the tolerance for bigotry and racism has declined. While there is work to be done, there has been steady progress since the days of the civil rights movement. It's a good way to trend and hopefully it continues in Mississippi and other places...
cough cough BBI BBI