
How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life - noobermin
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/magazine/how-one-stupid-tweet-ruined-justine-saccos-life.html
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tomcam
She's the person who tweeted “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just
kidding. I’m white!”

From the author of the article:

    
    
      I began to suspect that it wasn’t racist 
      but a reflexive critique of white privilege — 
      on our tendency to naïvely imagine ourselves 
      immune from life’s horrors.
    

Yes. I make Sacco's kind of joke all the time (in private), and it's also
meant to be a comment on racism itself. This kind of joke was common in the
late 70s and early 80s (see movies like "Blazing Saddles" or Richard Pryor's
"Live on Sunset Strip". In those days anyone was allowed to satirize racism
that way, black or white. I think it was healthy, because it robbed racism of
its power, sort of like saying Voldemort's name. Now... not such much.

~~~
angersock
There may be something to that--I'm not sure that I've seen racism shown
recently in a humorous and mocking light. Maybe treating as such a serious
issue grants it undeserved legitimacy.

~~~
michaelbuddy
?? you're saying that people don't make racist jokes ironically? You seem to
be missing out on about half of the world of comedy and jokes between friends.
In summary, I'd question if you have any sense of humor.

~~~
dang
That crosses into personal attack, which is not allowed on HN. Also, please
stop posting ideological rants. You've been doing it a lot, and such comments
don't belong here.

------
dang
A dupe of
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9039274](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9039274).
Also the recent discussion of
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10773808](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10773808).

------
michaelbuddy
this could only happen in a world full of wussy whiners. media grasping at
straws trying to find white racists, inventing them in MOST cases, ignoring
the racism of people of color directed towards whites, and taking on a small
slice of "cases" where they defend people blamed as being racist and paint
them victims. It's all about the story, forget the truth of the matter.

She made a weak joke, didn't really fit the template of a good joke, one that
can reach a lower common reptilian brain, she flubbed that, but anyone who
gave two squirts about it is more guilty than any racist. Because it proves
those reactionaries are after people, that they want to destroy them.

Those people, those losers who go through life wanting attention and can't
hold claim to any accomplishment, those who meant to hurt her reputation are
incredibly toxic to society.

~~~
jack9
> those who meant to hurt her reputation are incredibly toxic to society.

It seems to be a large portion of the media (mostly up-and-coming or your
average spokes hole) and people who like to believe twitter is important for
influencing public opinion...as opposed to other hive-minded individuals who
believe twitter has this kind of power. Twitter shaming always appeared to be
a bunch of ninny clucking to me.

