How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life • Hacker News Board

Re: How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life

#51

Post by nemothekid » Thu, Feb 12, 2015, 4:33 PM UTC

karangoeluw wrote: post #3

How is she is victim here? How is Twitter bad here? She made two racist comments in 1 tweet on her own will. That is not something that should be taken lightly, no matter what the platform. EDIT: Just to be clear, I'm not commenting on whether firing her was fair or not, but rather how her completely intentional tweets makes Twitter the bad guy.

Eighth Amendment - and secondly, I can't say the "social media lynching" is right either. This has gone far & above reprimanding someone for racial language to full on schadenfreude and mob punishment, and I can't agree thats an appropriate response to anything.

Re: How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life

#52

Post by ObviousScience » Thu, Feb 12, 2015, 4:34 PM UTC

paganel wrote: post #10

fennecfoxen wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You missed the bigger point, then: Mob justice is a barbaric and ugly thing; stop patting yourself on the back and thinking you're a good person for being a part of it.

This is not about justice, it's about a bad human being getting what she deserved. When you're an open racist you are a bad human being.

Firstly, she's not a racist, she made one joke with racial tones.

Secondly, do you not see how your position is a rather extreme one, that other, more moderate people might not endorse? Racism is bad, but saying racists aren't people and deserve any kind of mob justice against them is also bad.

Re: How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life

#53

Post by devopsproject » Thu, Feb 12, 2015, 4:34 PM UTC

It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt - mark twain

Re: How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life

#54

Post by sliverstorm » Thu, Feb 12, 2015, 4:34 PM UTC

karangoeluw wrote: post #29

Pinatubo wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She's a victim because the consequences were completely out of proportion to her transgression.

Really? She mocked a whole nation, and used a disease that has killed over a million people as a joke in a public forum.

You're right, she should probably be executed for that joke. /s

Re: How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life

#55

Post by deong » Thu, Feb 12, 2015, 4:34 PM UTC

lbarrow wrote: post #21

How was her life ruined? She lost her job, then got a new one. Her life seems fine.

At least logged into my Google account, if I type "Justine", it suggests "Sacco" as the top completion. It's not all that hyperbolic to say "ruined your life" when your first name is literally a global URI to the (perceived) worst thing you've ever done.

Re: How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life

#56

Post by efaref » Thu, Feb 12, 2015, 4:34 PM UTC

nailer wrote: post #35

karangoeluw wrote: post #3

How is she is victim here? How is Twitter bad here? She made two racist comments in 1 tweet on her own will. That is not something that should be taken lightly, no matter what the platform. EDIT: Just to be clear, I'm not commenting on whether firing her was fair or not, but rather how her completely intentional tweets makes Twitter the bad guy.

She was mocking racism, people confused it for racism. The reactionaries remind me of the people who wrecked this Banksy: http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/oct/01/banksy-m...

Exactly. I thought hacker news was a relatively smart crowd, but it seems there are people in this thread that don't even get that.

"Stop the planet. I want to get off."

Re: How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life

#57

Post by dgabriel » Thu, Feb 12, 2015, 4:34 PM UTC

toothbrush wrote: post #33

"The woman who took the photograph, Adria Richards, soon felt the wrath of the crowd herself. The man responsible for the dongle joke had posted about losing his job on Hacker News, an online forum popular with developers. This led to a backlash from the other end of the political spectrum. So-called men’s rights activists and anonymous trolls bombarded Richards with death threats on Twitter and Facebook." Wow, this…

Um, sometimes? HN is big, and there are crossover populations.

Re: How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life

#58

Post by mynameisvlad » Thu, Feb 12, 2015, 4:34 PM UTC

karangoeluw wrote: post #29

Pinatubo wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She's a victim because the consequences were completely out of proportion to her transgression.

Really? She mocked a whole nation, and used a disease that has killed over a million people as a joke in a public forum.

Yes, exactly, as a joke. The amount of backlash she got is far greater than the atrocity of making a bad joke.

Re: How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life

#59

Post by freehunter » Thu, Feb 12, 2015, 4:34 PM UTC

paganel wrote: post #10

fennecfoxen wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You missed the bigger point, then: Mob justice is a barbaric and ugly thing; stop patting yourself on the back and thinking you're a good person for being a part of it.

This is not about justice, it's about a bad human being getting what she deserved. When you're an open racist you are a bad human being.

>racist

I'm not sure you know what that word means. Telling an off-color joke that simply referenced race is not necessarily being racist, any more than telling "your mom" or "that's what she said" jokes makes someone sexist.

Racist:

NOUN

    a person who believes that a particular race is superior to another.

Re: How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life

#60

Post by ForHackernews » Thu, Feb 12, 2015, 4:34 PM UTC

tjic wrote: post #19

lazyjones wrote: post #8

Aren't all these Twitter sh*tstorms over within a few days, or in the worst case, weeks? People should just sit them out and not panic / call their lives ruined. Seems to work even for politicians.

Pax Dickinson is still unemployed a year later. People's names become toxic. Note that the Donglegate guy wouldn't let his name be used, and another woman in the article wouldn't do a followup interview.

To be fair, Pax Dickinson wasn't one stupid tweet, it was a pattern of awful shit over years. At some point, it's not a careless lapse anymore, you're just a d-bag. A few examples:

"In The Passion Of The Christ 2, Jesus gets raped by a pack of niggers. It's his own fault for dressing like a whore though."

"aw, you can't feed your family on minimum wage? well who told you to start a fucking family when your skills are only worth minimum wage?"

"Who has more dedication, ambition, and drive? Kobe only raped one girl, Lebron raped an entire city. +1 for Lebron."

And arguably the worst, for a freaking CTO:

"Tech managers spend as much time worrying about how to hire talented female developers as they do worrying about how to hire a unicorn."

Would you hire that guy to represent your company?