The internet turns the whole world into a small town

[viola]

The article How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life was published on NYTimes.com yesterday. It's a bit long but a very interesting read if you have the time and inclination.
 

Quotes from the article that stood out to me: 

"The furor over Sacco’s tweet had become not just an ideological crusade against her perceived bigotry but also a form of idle entertainment."


"well-meaning people, in a crowd, often take punishment too far"


"Her tormentors were instantly congratulated as they took Sacco down, bit by bit, and so they continued to do so"

[snapdragon]

Interesting article. Thanks for sharing!

[viola]

Feb 13, 2015 16:12:35 GMT -5 CatLady said:

I remember when this happened and was surprised at how quickly one's life can change from an off-handed comment. Since then, we've seen many instances where peoples lives have been affected as a result of social media. It scares me. I rarely post anything on social media and was very hesitant to use this forum as a result. You're absolutely right, the internet can be a small town.

What I meant by that comment was that everything on the internet is very overexposed and, once something is noticed it becomes all anyone talks about. Twitter scares the crap out of me

[viola]

Personally I think that Sacco's comments were crass and not at all funny. I can understand what saying she was saying about making fun of "the bubble" people live in - still not funny.

I do think it's a shame that she was torn apart on such a personal level.

I would even go as far as to say that people shouldn't be fired for what they put on social media. Since when is having a gross sense of humor a fireable offense?

[maggiet19]

Very interesting article.

I think some people tend to spend more time on their own soap box pointing fingers at others while they, themselves, are guilty of the very thing they are complaining/ranting about. I have to say that I try not to join in any form of public shaming. I read a quote somewhere that said, "Don't judge me just because I sin differently than you." It really made me look at myself in terms of the same measuring stick I was using to measure others. I realized I had no business judging others and should focus on myself.

I, too, have said things that were silly or taken out of context, made jokes that fell flat or were off color (I have a very dry/sarcastic humor), or have said things in anger when I should have held my tongue. Really...who hasn't?!?! My only saving grace is that I predominately learned this lesson before social media escalated to what it is today. A spoken word can never be unspoken...same for social media posts...they can haunt you forever.

ETA: I don't find what these people said to be funny or humorous. Hard to see the joke, actually. However, I don't think they should have their lives ruined by social media shaming.

[orangepickle]

I don't agree with this article. When you write something on the internet, you're agreeing to having whatever you say in writing, for forever. It's akin to publishing a book that everyone in the world can have access to, but because it's so immediate and instant, we often forget that. It's not that hard to not make racist/sexist/otherwise stupid jokes or comments online. The reason Justine was so harshly criticized was because she joked such a globally deadly virus that has literally killed hundreds of millions of people in her short lifetime, and probably more so because she is in PR and communications on a professional basis, so she should know better. It shows such a lack of judgement... So I agree with the comment from one of her coworkers who said they would not want her doing communications on behalf of them, I wouldn't either.

[staccajaye]

Wow, such an interesting read. I feel for her, one silly stupid tweet and boom!!!

[lolo918]

Although I feel for her, I also feel like she was a senior director for a publicity company putting border offensive comments out into a public forum. Maybe I'm just a prude but I don't often put anything out there that seems ambiguous or you don't know which side of the fence I stand on. She joked about the virus, she joked about BO of another passenger, among other incidents with an account that is accessible to EVERYONE not just your followers. This point is missed by a lot of people on social media I think because they follow the crowd of publicly journaling their life in real time. I mean I agonized over making my instagram public until I realized I had very few personal pictures other than the yoga challenge I was going to do. My Facebook is hard to fine, but even still I don't post much. A friend just asked why I haven't posted more bump pictures....I do take them weekly but they were for my personal use. I wouldn't and don't mind emailing them to her but not so much on my page.

On the other hand it's crazy how people backlash to make "examples" of people. That to me is just as bad as those types of posts. I often wonder, why go after the small time Justine Sacco's of the world when there are much more important people taking advantage of others or being discriminatory. The effort you put into ruining her life collectively may make an enormous chage for more people in the world.

[smilesp]

It's an interesting article and phenomenon of our social media obsessed society. People like Sacco get a thrill out of seeing how many likes or retweets or whatever they can get so they continue to push the envelope by posting more and more abrasive/offensive comments until someone notices. The irony is that that's exactly what they wanted but it blows up in their faces and then it's all woe is me. I don't feel bad for any of these people with the exception of the tech guy because he didn't put his comment online himself. Do they deserve to have their lives threatened? No. Do they deserve to lose their jobs? Yes.

I showed this article to DH who's a HS teacher so he could share it with his students.