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"Hello There, Racists!" New Tumblr Page Outing People that Made Racist Tweets/FB Statuses After the Election


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I see some people saying that this is taking it too far. I feel the opposite. This could be a gateway to make people think twice about their behavior and be a deterrent for such behavior. One of the problems I've had with our society/judicial system is the failure to hold juvies accountable for their transgressions. Their attitude leads to complete and utter disrespect towards society because they know their repercussions will be minor. As far as I'm concerned, if you post **** on the interent, twitter, etc, it's open season.

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I see some people saying that this is taking it too far. I feel the opposite. This could be a gateway to make people think twice about their behavior and be a deterrent for such behavior. One of the problems I've had with our society/judicial system is the failure to hold juvies accountable for their transgressions. Their attitude leads to complete and utter disrespect towards society because they know their repercussions will be minor. As far as I'm concerned, if you post **** on the interent, twitter, etc, it's open season.

How do you feel about the precedent of people encouraging other people to impose retribution against people for other things that some folks don't like?

People who perform abortions? People who've had abortions? People who perform ancillary work (plumbers, electricians, whatever) at places that perform abortions? People who leave their dogs outside all night long? People who drive slow in the left lane? People who feed their kids Happy Meals? People who visit porn sites? People who have visited clubs/meetings for people who have, uh, unusual sexual desires? People who donate money to politicians who say that people don't get pregnant from "legitimate" rape?

You OK with the general principal of "Hey, there's people out there who do things I don't like, so I'm going to publish everything I can find out about them, and encourage other people to go punish them"?

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Been trying to come up with a way I could answer the question of where the line is, and I think maybe I've come up with a proposed place to draw it.

Background: I remember when that abortion doctor (Tiller?) got killed in his church. Reading a report that anti-abortion web sites were not only advertising the man's name, his picture, his home address and the address of his clinic. But that they were also publishing the names and addresses of every one of his employees. His wife's picture. The location of the grocery store where she buys groceries. His children's pictures, and where they go to school.

I recall when The Dixie Chicks offended some people's politics. Web sites sprang up, listing their home addresses. Home phone numbers. But that wasn't enough. They had to go dig up every radio station that played their songs. And the home address and home phone number of the manager of the radio station. And the owner of the radio station.

And that wasn't enough. Every advertiser who advertised on those radio stations. And the home address and phone number of the people who buy advertising for those sponsors.

In case you can't tell, I think these things were wrong.

I think there's a difference between shaming someone, and encouraging other people to impose punishment on them.

I think a good place to start to draw the distinction is when you get into data mining.

"Hey, look what some loon posted on Facebook! Here's a link to the loon's page.", to me, is both acceptable, and a Good Thing. Loons deserve to be ridiculed.

But I think that when pointing at the loon, and laughing, turns into "Hey, here's somebody you can lean on, who has the power to hurt the loon", then you've probably gone too far.

There's only one reason for publishing the loon's phone number. It's to encourage people to attack him.

There's only one reason for publishing the loon's employer. It's to encourage people to attack the employer into attacking him.

There's only one reason for publishing the location of the store where someone's wife shops for groceries, or where his kids go to school. You're soliciting terrorism.

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I am ambivalent about this thing. On the one hand the people who posted these comments put themselves in harms way. The guy's boss could have easily seen the comments and fired him just for being an idiot on his Facebook page , but the likelihood of that happening (getting fired if the boss saw it) was greatly increased by the added public exposure/ outcry due to the Tumblr page. I would not have a problem with it if their names had been blocked out like on Failbook, because I think there is educational value in seeing how ignorant some people can be. It is vindictive to put out all of their info at a higher level of exposure, and the guy who put this together should feel at least some sense of remorse if something bad happens to one of these knuckleheads, because he is painting a target on their backs and riling up the masses.

Looking through the page again I feel that it is particularly inappropriate to publish the names of kids who aren't even 18 yet. Sad that people have so much hate.

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Yeah, I think it rabble rouses and I think this is an absolutely terrible and unproductive way to confront the issues of racism.

I think attacking people like that, getting them fired or unable to get into college and encouraging harassment of them is pretty much the surest way to dig them in and make an even more marginalized and militant racist for life.

Especially with the High Schoolers. That's who most of these people seem to be. High Schoolers don't know what they think. They are young and dumb and apish, they pose to impress each other. I think that site is pretty abominable.

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My buddy said to me, "How come there are only white people on this site?"

I wonder if it's time for me to mention again the paper I wrote in the 7th grade (the year I dropped out of school): "Famous White People in History."

I thought it was funny. My very diverse group of friends thought it was funny. Mrs. McKenzie....not so much.

Upon her immediate reaction of suppressing my free speech by yelling for me to take my chair and her waving the swat board (physical violence!), I remember putting a most plaintive look on my face and in an almost-willing-to-suffer-for-my-freedoms voice saying, "but these are your people---don't you want their story told?"

My sense of humor has often been a bit of an issue.

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Yeah, I think it rabble rouses and I think this is an absolutely terrible and unproductive way to confront the issues of racism.

I think attacking people like that, getting them fired or unable to get into college and encouraging harassment of them is pretty much the surest way to dig them in and make an even more marginalized and militant racist for life.

Especially with the High Schoolers. That's who most of these people seem to be. High Schoolers don't know what they think. They are young and dumb and apish, they pose to impress each other. I think that site is pretty abominable.

terrific post

And like Predicto, I was also an idiot kid, and totally agree that teens tend to follow more than think on their own, exactly as Mr McQueen has stated.

~BAng

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How do you feel about the precedent of people encouraging other people to impose retribution against people for other things that some folks don't like?

People who perform abortions? People who've had abortions? People who perform ancillary work (plumbers, electricians, whatever) at places that perform abortions? People who leave their dogs outside all night long? People who drive slow in the left lane? People who feed their kids Happy Meals? People who visit porn sites? People who have visited clubs/meetings for people who have, uh, unusual sexual desires? People who donate money to politicians who say that people don't get pregnant from "legitimate" rape?

You OK with the general principal of "Hey, there's people out there who do things I don't like, so I'm going to publish everything I can find out about them, and encourage other people to go punish them"?

No, you're right Larry. It's a bit extreme and I think public humiliation is punishment enough in this case.

I will say this though. Times have changed and Facebook, twitter, etc can and will have a profound affect on your life and people better think before they type. Case in point? My sis-in-law works in HR and social media is now a part of background checks.

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This thread makes me want to post a new thread. At what age did you finally come to the political position that you do now? Lots of teens are full of hatred. Lots of adults seem to be able to comprehend what is "actually" going on. I feel like some people never get out of their teens while some do.

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No, you're right Larry. It's a bit extreme and I think public humiliation is punishment enough in this case.

I will say this though. Times have changed and Facebook, twitter, etc can and will have a profound affect on your life and people better think before they type. Case in point? My sis-in-law works in HR and social media is now a part of background checks.

Oh, I agree.

Data storage has become dirt cheap. Lots of people are now collecting vast piles of trivia, on people.

At present, the data mining tools don't really exist to properly cross-reference and extrapolate all of this data. But does anybody really want to claim that the tools won't exist 20 years from now?

And, when the tools exist, they'll have vast piles of data to apply the tools to, retroactively.

Today's kids are going to have a "paper trail" like nobody has ever imagined.

(And no, I don;t think it's good.)

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Really? You're last person I'd expect to be a racist at any part of their life. You must have had one hell of a transformation.

You are just a kid. The world is very different than it was a few decades ago.

I think you would have been pretty hard pressed to find a white kid who WASN'T casually racist in Virginia 4 decades ago. It wasn't active, no one was burning crosses. We were just sure that we were naturally superior due to the color of our skin, and we were entirely clueless.

Have you ever encountered one of those morons who says things like: "Some blacks are ok, but it's ok to call some of them n****rs. I't just like calling a white guy you don't like an a**hole."

Of course, it's not even remotely the same. Calling a black person a n****r is saying that the person is bad BECAUSE of their racial makeup. They are inferior because of their skin. If a black person is being an a**hole then call him an a**hole, same as anyone else.

But when I was a teen you could not possibly have convinced me of that, because I was stupid and I didn't think. I just did what everyone around me did. And because I had no black friends, there was no one to help me break through my bubble of cluelessness. So I could say that I admired Martin Luther King in one breath, and talk about n****rs in the next breath. I could put a confederate battle flag in the back window of my car and drive down into DC and be completely unaware how it felt to black people to see that symbol in their face. And If I had known they were irritated by it, I would have been offended as how oversensitive they were. "It's their problem, not mine. I'm just expressing my Southern Heritage."

Clueless.

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Oh, I agree.

Data storage has become dirt cheap. Lots of people are now collecting vast piles of trivia, on people.

At present, the data mining tools don't really exist to properly cross-reference and extrapolate all of this data. But does anybody really want to claim that the tools won't exist 20 years from now?

And, when the tools exist, they'll have vast piles of data to apply the tools to, retroactively.

Today's kids are going to have a "paper trail" like nobody has ever imagined.

(And no, I don;t think it's good.)

Oh i disagree...

www.palantir.com

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You are just a kid. The world is very different than it was a few decades ago.

Clueless.

That was a great and honest post. I'm in the same boat. There wasn't a lot of black people directly in my town growing up, but there was a lot in the next town over. There was a lot of racial tension in the late 80's early 90's. I ran with a lot of skinheads, friends I grew up with. When we went to the clubs, there were always fights between black and white. It was easy to fall into a side of the war. I was a clueless teenager.

I couldn't be further from a racist now and have no problem calling a racist out for their ignorance.

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