4 ms·

I hear what you're saying but go on any social media today and you'll find hundreds, likely thousands of people claiming people are sexist, racist, ageist etc.

by jboog 6y ago

I hear what you're saying but go on any social media today and you'll find hundreds, likely thousands of people claiming people are sexist, racist, ageist etc. because of the most innocuous comments. These are full-grown adults doing this. Many of them have prestigious jobs in media, universities etc. Really not hard to imagine a scenario where teenagers are looking for scalps to show how "woke" they are. The author fully admits that he comes off as an asshole sometimes. Maybe he was a bit of a jerk to the kids and pissed them off so they decided tattling on the guy for "being racist" would be payback. I saw shit like this happen in high school all the time and it was well over a decade ago. My partner is a teacher and I don't know how many times her students do shit like complain to the principal or guidance counselors that she's being unfair to them. Marking them absent from class for no reason when they attended via zoom and when it's investigated it turns out the kid had the camera off and didn't respond after being called on repeatedly. Is this actually what happened? I don't know, we only have this guy's side of the story. Literally no one in the NYT or elsewhere has any evidence first hand or otherwise that he said anything worse than what IMO worst case scenario might be described as ill-advised and potentially insensitive.

tsimionescu 6y ago
I am born, raised and living well outside the US (Eastern Europe), and while I have been steeped in US pop culture since an early age, I do not have access to US social circles in this way. My own country is dissimilar to what you are describing in basically every aspect, so I can't relate, but of course this isn't in any way an argument against your own experience. > IMO worst case scenario might be described as ill-advised and potentially insensitive. Yes, this is my perception from his account as well. I can imagine that the teenagers he describes may have gotten inflamed, may have felt hostile, and may have complained to parents and trip organizers. They may have easily convinced themselves that it is righteous to take him down when the Daily Beast presented an opportunity to them. They are also likely much worse than a man with a 40 year career in journalism at recalling exactly what happened months ago in long windy conversations, so they are likely to be much more inaccurate in their own memories of these events.

by jboog 6y ago

tsimionescu 6y ago

I am born, raised and living well outside the US (Eastern Europe), and while I have been steeped in US pop culture since an early age, I do not have access to US social circles in this way. My own country is dissimilar to what you are describing in basically every aspect, so I can't relate, but of course this isn't in any way an argument against your own experience. > IMO worst case scenario might be described as ill-advised and potentially insensitive. Yes, this is my perception from his account as well. I can imagine that the teenagers he describes may have gotten inflamed, may have felt hostile, and may have complained to parents and trip organizers. They may have easily convinced themselves that it is righteous to take him down when the Daily Beast presented an opportunity to them. They are also likely much worse than a man with a 40 year career in journalism at recalling exactly what happened months ago in long windy conversations, so they are likely to be much more inaccurate in their own memories of these events.