When I first understood the idea behind Twitter, I remember thinking: ‘Well, that’s dumb: who would care about that?’ Obviously, my time as pulse monitor of the modern zeitgeist had already past. If ever I had my finger on it.
But one thing I stand by: when you publish incriminating personal information on-line…you take a risk. I feel sorry for this person only in that while 100,000 far greater offensive stupidities were posted around the world the same day she decided to share: hers caught.
It’s the reverse lotto. One dumb ass comment…now the world hates you. It could happen to anybody (if you are the type to share your feelings without thoughtful self-editing).
That’s why I prefer a pseudonym: not quite plausible deniability exactly…regular readers of this bb comment section could ascertain quite a bit about me perhaps, but, who really cares?
Yet when you put your given name and your photograph behind poorly thought out statements that THE ENTIRE WORLD CAN READ…you take your chances.
If everyone thought before they spoke (or typed)…we would be living in a completely different world; and I suggest it would be a better one. But we are an impulsive race, I don’t imagine that changing anytime soon.
Her reputation was tarred by what she said in a public forum, not by the “mob”. The only thing the “mob” is doing here is reacting to what she said by pointing it out to other people.
It would be a different matter if people were doxxing or swatting her (and I really hope no one stoops that low). Stalking her plane flight is pushing the boundaries a bit. But otherwise, it doesn’t really look like anyone’s damaging her except by saying “look at these things this person has said.” As a PR person, it’s part of the job description to deal with that kind of thing.
marilove why do you show such vitriol torwards this person? do you know her? I don’t. Are we to judge this person’s entire career, and their character based off of a 140 character tweet?
should I feel ambivalent that a fellow human being is suffering just because she may have brought that suffering down upon herself? should I feel glad?
I would suggest that is not acceptable. We should always show empathy and concern for our fellow man. I refuse to dehumanize a person to the point of showing no empathy for them simply because they made an off color comment on the internet. Hell I’d still feel empathy for a person going to prison for murder. And I am proud of that. I am glad I can see people even at their worst as people. I think we’d all be better off if we took time to see each other as people.
Yeah but most people aren’t freakin’ PR Directors. This is her JOB. She of all people should know how Twitter works, and how one dumb ass statement can be made viral. She is a PR Director in this modern world – she really should know better.
She gets paid (or…got paid), and probably a pretty good sum of money, to know about all things regarding PUBLIC RELATIONS. I mean,part of her LITERAL job description is being able to analyze and predict the response to public behavior (which includes speech). And yet. And yet. She thought she was invincible. It’s just more of her privilege shining through, really.
There is no vitriol, just sweet, sweet schadenfreude, which isn’t the same thing. And a bit of pity mixed in, because she obviously lacks self-awareness, but my lack of empathy does not mean I am a sociopath. It just means I think, as a PR director, she should have fucking known better, and I sorta pity her for being so oblivious about this sort of thing when her job was literally understanding how public relations work. That’s literally her job: PUBLIC RELATIONS. And she can’t even grasp that herself? Yikes.
As Hank Hill would say: She is a dumb ass.
And I don’t think Hank Hill would have empathy for her dumb ass behavior, either!
That very reason is why I do not play the lotto…and I don’t have a Twitter account.
But when the happy lotto ticket seller gets One Million Dollars just for SELLING the winning ticket I think “Dude…lucky you”
However: “… its not quite right to say… oh she should’ve known better.” Why not?
This is a woman with a passport and a job, over the age of consent…in the year of our lord twenty thirteen…with goddamn internet access and (I’m assuming) education?
People who tweet about drinking tend to drink while tweeting. Which is why, when I was a drinker, I never tweeted about drinking while tweeting drunk. That way, at least, I could just be zaaany. Maybe.
Anyway. The morning-after ritual of perusing my various feeds for embarrassing things and closing the social media barn door while the 140-character horses ran amok in the internet forest got old after awhile, so I stayed offline during bouts of scotch.
I don’t drink anymore. But I can usually recognize the online behavior of those who do, and all I have to say is: she is going to have one hell of a Regret Knot™ in her belly when she lands.
This is trivia! How can you not see that Justine Sacco is an entity that exists in your mind entirely as some trivial entertainment. I mean… does it matter to you in some way that Justine Sacco is a PR director? If there was a Buzzfeed article called “8 Most Racist PR Directors” would anyone even care? Or a Gawker article entitled “How Did This Terrible PR Director Ever Get Hired?”
I’m really not sure what you’re trying to say here. I’m sure other racist PR directors exist. I hope they get their racist asses fired, too. But stupid people get hired all the time and fly under the radar all the time, so I’m not sure what your point is…?
And yeah, BoingBoing does have ads but they seem rather incidental and non-invasive … quite unlike the site you shared with me. Ads are necessary to keep a large blog afloat and I think BoingBoing utilizes them well without it being obnoxious. Your point is…?
I suppose I feel for her a bit because the fallout is going to SUCK, but then I’m right back to the point that she is a PUBLIC RELATIONS DIRECTOR! This is like, Public Relations 101. Reading back on her tweets before it was all deleted, this was not the first time she made inflammatory statements, nor was it the first time she got negative attention as a result – negative attention she seemed to quite love, as she just kept on keepin’ on with her weird and sometimes offensive tweets.
I think, though, she honestly thought she’d never be THAT PERSON, you know? That she was a Super Special Snowflake and therefore she could say whatever the fuck she wanted to, even as a public fucking relations director, and never have to face any real consequences for it. And I think that speaks volumes about her privilege and likely entitlement.
I actually think she’ll be okay. If she’s smart, she’ll start up her own blog and do okay, or start up her own firm. As a PR Director, she should have the skill set to turn a negative into a positive. Or she’ll just end up working in a call center for the rest of her life.
That said! Relate tangent: When Tracy Morgan said that awful shit on state, I was appalled. But then he made a sincere apology, and then made an actual effort to educate himself and give back to the LGBT community. So I’m firmly back on Team Tracy. If this woman can do the same? Then I’ll gladly give her props.
The point was that you’ve hardly made any comment on her really shitty, racist tweet, but you instead seem to be totally, and fully focused on the fact that people aren’t taking racism lightly.
I don’t want people to be more like me. Hell I’m a screwed up individual in my own right. As I just found out I can add creepy on the internet to my list of failings.
But that trick does work for me. No bullshit there. So yeah I share the tip. Like I would share a recipe for nice Porter. Maybe you won’t like it. But it worked for me.
