4 ms·

“Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!” I'm having a hard time seeing this as 'anti-racism', even if the 'punchline' hinges on the u

“Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!” I'm having a hard time seeing this as 'anti-racism', even if the 'punchline' hinges on the uncomfortable truth that black africans are disproportionately the victims of HIV, it is very much punching down. Is it in very bad taste? absolutely yes. Is it something that needed to be #1 trending on twitter? no. Is it something that should noticeably alter the path of someone's life? Not in any world I would choose to live in. I do agree with your premise, a single joke in very bad taste by a non-public entity is a non-event. I think that we all have something somewhere in our closet that could be twisted against us by cancel culture. The scariest part is that there is no redemption. A picture or recording of you doing something reprehensible when you were 17 will be used against you years later. Cancel culture needs to recognize that people grow and change. We need to recognize that young people say and do stupid shit without understanding the full context of what they are doing, or the potential consequences.

mc32 6y ago
We are in agreement. As I mention elsewhere. It’s in poor taste. It relied on if not racist at least negative stereotypes to expose the bad stereotype and the assumed privilege that a type of person gets AIDS. Her company panicked. If she been accused of murder they would have offered more sympathy. They’d have probably helped with a lawyer, etc. but here? Oh no, the mob singled you out. You’re on your own, bye now!
dragonwriter 6y ago
> The scariest part is that there is no redemption. A picture or recording of you doing something reprehensible when you were 17 will be used against you years later “Redemption” is not the same thing as “freedom from accountability due to having escaped accountability for a sufficiently long time”. There is certainly an argument that for at least some forms of accounts one ought to have the latter as well as the former (hence statutes of limitations), but they are distinct and radically different concepts.
mvc 6y ago
When your job is PR, when you have a PR disaster you might have trouble finding another job until you figure out how to demonstrate to future employers that you have learned something from the experience.

mc32 6y ago

We are in agreement. As I mention elsewhere. It’s in poor taste. It relied on if not racist at least negative stereotypes to expose the bad stereotype and the assumed privilege that a type of person gets AIDS. Her company panicked. If she been accused of murder they would have offered more sympathy. They’d have probably helped with a lawyer, etc. but here? Oh no, the mob singled you out. You’re on your own, bye now!

dragonwriter 6y ago

> The scariest part is that there is no redemption. A picture or recording of you doing something reprehensible when you were 17 will be used against you years later “Redemption” is not the same thing as “freedom from accountability due to having escaped accountability for a sufficiently long time”. There is certainly an argument that for at least some forms of accounts one ought to have the latter as well as the former (hence statutes of limitations), but they are distinct and radically different concepts.

mvc 6y ago

When your job is PR, when you have a PR disaster you might have trouble finding another job until you figure out how to demonstrate to future employers that you have learned something from the experience.