7 ms·
Bullying is real. My wife and I run a side Business Saas product. She is listed as COO on her social media profile for the company. She is also in a bunch of
by imperio59 6y ago
Bullying is real.
My wife and I run a side Business Saas product. She is listed as COO on her social media profile for the company.
She is also in a bunch of groups about gardening in our local area.
During the height of BLM protests and CHOP/CHAZ, someone made a post that was very off-topic for the group, basically saying we should all support what was happening in the CHOP and all the violence against cops was justified due to racial injustice.
My wife took no position on the issue but politely replied saying the post felt off-topic and she didn't want to hear about politics in her favorite gardening group.
Several people attacked her on the post, calling her white privileged, racist, etc... all for suggesting the post was off-topic (even though the group's own rules prohibited political content).
One person took it a step further and went on her profile to see where she worked. They then messaged our company's social media profile to tell our company that my wife was a racist, and she should be fired or reprimanded because she had made racist comments in a FB group (she had not, and the person provided no screenshots/proof either).
Unfortunately for that person, they did not realize they were talking to my wife's husband (me) who promptly banned them from our page and blocked their profile from my/my wife's profiles so they could no longer bother us.
However, this type of new "online activism" is rampant nowadays. Small companies often have little choice but to comply or be publicly shamed/bullied, including doxxing or going after individual employees, as in our story.
I disapprove of this type of behavior. This is mob justice in a different form. It is the court of public opinion rather than an actual court of law where someone would get a chance to defend themselves. It is wrong and our society needs to grow up past this childish phase it's going through where every angry person riled up by this or that party's rhetoric feels like they have the right to attempt to destroy another person's livelihood for the sake of pushing "their truth" or "justice". That's not what Justice is.
- jhowell 6y ago> My wife took no position on the issue but politely replied saying the post felt off-topic and she didn't want to hear about politics in her favorite gardening group. > Several people attacked her on the post, calling her white privileged, racist, etc... all for suggesting the post was off-topic (even though the group's own rules prohibited political content). Isn't the ability to decide what issue your bring to a space and then deciding which issues you'll "take no position" a privilege?
- munchbunny 6y agoIsn't the ability to decide what issue your bring to a space and then deciding which issues you'll "take no position" a privilege? Why is it privilege to avoid discussing politics in a gardening group? I'll grant that "take no position" can be a privileged position in some contexts, but a gardening group discussion seems pretty clearly not one of those contexts.
- pitterpatter 6y agoI mean to tie it to a more concrete example: Take the incident with the white lady and the black guy who was bird watching in New York. I'm pretty sure he'd love nothing more than to be able enjoy his pretty chill hobby of bird watching without it becoming racial or political or what have you. But the fact of the matter is that's not his choice. So yea, being able to say you don't take a position in politics can definitely be a privilege. Edit: Not to say I think people should really be hounding this lady anyways but just want to explain the point about privilege there.
- oh_sigh 6y agoThe black guy was the one who attempted to lure her dog away from her to teach her a lesson by "doing something she's not going to like" to her dog(which certainly sounds like a threat). He admitted to carrying dog treats with him to do just that. And then he posted the video online, attracting even more attention to what would normally just be a "crazy people are crazy" experience that you get in NY when you confront strangers for bad behavior. I've been accused by a crazy person on the subway of being a rapist, but that doesn't mean that I'm oppressed for being a male of a certain color. It was just a crazy person doing crazy things.
- pitterpatter 6y agoSure, and she said "I’m calling the cops … I’m gonna tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life." So literally weaponizing racism. I ain't saying the guy is a saint here but clearly the fact that that's the threat she would make kinda says something about our society here.
- kenjackson 6y agoBullying from internet trolls is real and spans political boundaries. It goes into even things like sports fandom and video game culture. This is a fundamentally different issue than what we're seeing with Parler.
- burade 6y agoThat's not even close to bullying. Bullying is more like a 14 year old black kid getting beaten to death by a group of adult white men, who were later acquitted. And you know very well what would happen if the races were reversed.
- rimliu 6y agoThat's murder.
- nicbou 6y agoI don't think it's anything new. People used to call political activists' house to make death threats. It's a recurring theme in Selma, the movie about Dr. King. I never had to deal with this as a community moderator, but these sort of virtue spirals can destroy communities if they're not nipped in the bud.