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

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

#81

Post by ripdog » Thu, Feb 12, 2015, 4:40 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.

It's about the scale of the response. If someone rolls their eyes at you, you don't throw them down and stomp on their head. Yes, they were rude, you perhaps would be OK to flip them the bird, but a curb stomp? Really?

And please don't say this is totally different because racism. It was an isolated twitter joke to 140 followers. Tweets don't move the world - but floods of them can certainly ruin individual lives.

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

#82

Post by malkia » Thu, Feb 12, 2015, 4:40 PM UTC

Wondering why no one came up with "I'm Justine Sacco"

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

#83

Post by rblstr » Thu, Feb 12, 2015, 4:40 PM UTC

paganel wrote: post #42

tjic wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How, exactly, did her tweet affect people? ...unless you standard for "affect" covers all communication. In which case, you're saying "People should pay for the sin of expressing an opinion or making a joke". ...and perhaps you are.

> How, exactly, did her tweet affect people? Have you ever been the victim or racism? If not, let's say you're in an open group, you're of a certain nationality (let's call it X), and some other member of that group starts making racist or xenophobic jokes about your race/nationality. By mistake my skin is white (so I've never been the victim of racist jokes/looks, even though my brother, whose skin is browner, has b…

Could you point the racism out in this tweet?

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

#84

Post by jstalin » Thu, Feb 12, 2015, 4:41 PM UTC

steven2012 wrote: post #61

Except for Facebook and LinkedIn, I haven't used my real name and any personally identifiable information on the Internet in 20 years, since I realized that everything I wrote on Usenet would be there forever. There is no value with having the things I say potentially used against me for the rest of my life.

Same here. I rotate my online username on forums and online comment systems every few months: https://fakena.me.

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

#85

Post by ForHackernews » Thu, Feb 12, 2015, 4:42 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.

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

Pssst...Africa is a continent, not a nation.

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

#86

Post by potatolicious » Thu, Feb 12, 2015, 4:42 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…

HN isn't completely made up of MRA types, but if you've been noticing there are a lot of them here (along with your more typical "SJWs out to get us" types).

HN is in general no longer held with the same regard it was a couple of years ago. Note the number of progressive, well-respected regulars who've left this place behind.

There are other avenues to discuss tech and tech issues without ancaps, MRAs, and anti-SJW crusaders trying to internet-fight you at every turn.

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

#87

Post by theorique » Thu, Feb 12, 2015, 4:42 PM UTC

taylorwc wrote: post #62

I think they article would more aptly have been titled, "How One Thoughtless Public Expression of Justine Sacco's Lack of Judgment and Racism Had Consequences." Really hard to feel sympathy for her.

How about, "one ironic joke, and then a long flight where she could not communicate that she was being ironic, cost Justine Sacco a lot".

She wasn't being racist, she was lampooning American insularity. Unfortunately, a lot of people didn't get that it was a joke, and/or didn't get the joke, and she paid the price.

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

#88

Post by nemothekid » Thu, Feb 12, 2015, 4:42 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.

I'm worried about people who water down the term "racist" to mean someone who posts mean things on Twitter.

I'm sure the systemic issue with blacks in America is largely caused by immature comments on Twitter. I'm so glad the lynch mob was able to right this wrong, its almost like I'm living in a post-racial America!

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

#89

Post by efaref » Thu, Feb 12, 2015, 4:43 PM UTC

karangoeluw wrote: post #45

ObviousScience wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't like the extremism behind the idea that we should fire someone from their job over a off-color joke which is intended for a small audience, but may be overheard accidentally by others. That sort of absolutism of policing thought just doesn't end well, ever. To translate it away from Twitter: imagine you're at a public space, such as a mall, and you happen to be walking by a table of people leaning together ju…

I'm not saying firing her was fair or unfair - the company has to respond to public reaction too. I'm saying how is Twitter the bad guy here. > but may be overheard accidentally by others There is nothing accidental about tweeting in public. If she wanted to limit the exposure, she could have used the "protected tweets" feature.

Sounds like victim-blaming to me.

If only she wasn't wearing /that dress/ in public...

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

#90

Post by sharkweek » Thu, Feb 12, 2015, 4:44 PM UTC

I wonder about this a lot - in 15-20 years, political candidates / public figures will have hundreds of things they have said online embarrassing their campaigns/images. Do we all just become more accepting of sarcasm, racism, bad jokes, etc? Is it a step backwards or is it a step forward?

I can tell you for a fact I'm sure things on my Twitter account could likely be taken out of context as I can sometimes be a bit of a "Larry David" with my public observations that I can't help but share.