How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life
The following article is from earlier this year, but came up in a web-based conversation last night on our friend Bed Reid's Facebook page. This article about internet mob-justice was posted by one of those in the conversation. It's lengthy - but it is very interesting. Article begins below:
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As she made the long journey from New York to South Africa, to visit family during the holidays in 2013, Justine Sacco, 30 years old and the senior director of corporate communications at IAC, began tweeting acerbic little jokes about the indignities of travel. There was one about a fellow passenger on the flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport:
Weird German Dude: Youre in First Class. Its 2014. Get some deodorant. Inner monologue as I inhale BO. Thank God for pharmaceuticals.
Then, during her layover at Heathrow:
Chilly cucumber sandwiches bad teeth. Back in London!
And on Dec. 20, before the final leg of her trip to Cape Town:
Going to Africa. Hope I dont get AIDS. Just kidding. Im white!
She chuckled to herself as she pressed send on this last one, then wandered around Heathrows international terminal for half an hour, sporadically checking her phone. No one replied, which didnt surprise her. She had only 170 Twitter followers.
Sacco boarded the plane. It was an 11-hour flight, so she slept. When the plane landed in Cape Town and was taxiing on the runway, she turned on her phone. Right away, she got a text from someone she hadnt spoken to since high school: Im so sorry to see whats happening. Sacco looked at it, baffled.
Then another text: You need to call me immediately. It was from her best friend, Hannah. Then her phone exploded with more texts and alerts. And then it rang. It was Hannah. Youre the No. 1 worldwide trend on Twitter right now, she said.
Saccos Twitter feed had become a horror show. In light of @Justine-Sacco disgusting racist tweet, Im donating to @care today and How did @JustineSacco get a PR job?! Her level of racist ignorance belongs on Fox News. #AIDS can affect anyone! and Im an IAC employee and I dont want @JustineSacco doing any communications on our behalf ever again. Ever. And then one from her employer, IAC, the corporate owner of The Daily Beast, OKCupid and Vimeo: This is an outrageous, offensive comment. Employee in question currently unreachable on an intl flight. The anger soon turned to excitement: All I want for Christmas is to see @JustineSaccos face when her plane lands and she checks her inbox/voicemail and Oh man, @JustineSacco is going to have the most painful phone-turning-on moment ever when her plane lands and We are about to watch this @JustineSacco bitch get fired. In REAL time. Before she even KNOWS shes getting fired.
The furor over Saccos tweet had become not just an ideological crusade against her perceived bigotry but also a form of idle entertainment. Her complete ignorance of her predicament for those 11 hours lent the episode both dramatic irony and a pleasing narrative arc. As Saccos flight traversed the length of Africa, a hashtag began to trend worldwide: #HasJustineLandedYet. Seriously. I just want to go home to go to bed, but everyone at the bar is SO into #HasJustineLandedYet. Cant look away. Cant leave and Right, is there no one in Cape Town going to the airport to tweet her arrival? Come on, Twitter! Id like pictures #HasJustineLandedYet.
A Twitter user did indeed go to the airport to tweet her arrival. He took her photograph and posted it online . Yup, he wrote, @JustineSacco HAS in fact landed at Cape Town International. Shes decided to wear sunnies as a disguise.
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True - but the stupidity of the post belongs to Justine.
She faced society's court - and lost.
It does seem to be that her post was of the level to do anything.
Mob mentality is an awful thing, and the posting of one tweet should not be the basis for dismissal, or even censure.
I despise the internet and associated means of communication for this reason. I do not glom-on when I see a post on Facebook or whatnot and encourages me to slam or praise some person or people for an act which might be totally out of character. Everybody has to live on this planet and it is difficult enough without somebody else sticking their fat nose in to what may be an innocuous or ill thought out action.
Don't do it. You might be relieved when you have a similar faux-pas.
This is unless it is an obviously out of bounds comment and intended to be so.
She, Justine, sent the tweet, she owns it.
In today's world with instant communications, anything you say or do can goglobal in a couple of hours. That is a fact, and that is the world we live in, andit is not going to change anytime soon.
Was the mob reaction to her tweet deserved. Probably not, since her tweet was stupid, not racist. People jumped to the conclusion that it was racist. Than again, there was a 50% chance of that happening from the get go.
Lesson here is, think out your comment before hitting send.
Without the advantage of knowing the person, knowing their intentions, knowing their background etc. This will keep on happening. It's easier to tear the people down/apart, than to ask the simply question, ''what do you mean''...
True, there are people that feel that know what you mean, the Karnac effect.
Sadly,this is notnew because of the internet or any other form of communications. It has been with us for decades/centuries. The instant communication has only made it worse. Faster with a greater audience of like minded Karnac's.
I blame it not on Justine herself but on oxygen deprivation . Aircraft flying at altitude utilize lower cabin air pressure ...
I don't have a twitter account either . Twitter mobs form rapidly and usually with no good intent behind them . If I miss twitter updates from Mia Khalifa as a result , so be it ...
Almost every one of my friends has gotten in big trouble for comments and pictures they have posted to Facebook.
Drinking, smoking, doing drugs, or running around in an outfit that they did not leave the house wearing, going to parties with older boys.
People have to be very careful because stuff goes crazy viral all the time.
I don't even know if this woman meant anything racist by what she said?
What does being black or white have to do with AIDS?
Was she being mean, or just trying to be funny?
I hope the public forgives her so this one mistake doesn't ruin her entire life.
This is a very important story, because it illustrates a very important trend-- a big change taking place in the world. And that is the incredible power of Social Media.
Th first real inkling I had of this was when Egyptian dictator Hossni Mubark was deposed. There were huge demonstrations in Tahrir Square (Cairo). But what was really amazing was how quickly a huge fairly empty public square became mobbed. People wondered how people could've found out about the demonstration so rapidly. Well, activists tweeted friends and aquaintances who then retweeted it, etc. The growth was exponential. But also, due to the power of the Internet-- what was really amazing was how fast these enormous crowds formed!
Yeah, and by "friends" she means her.
I was with you that night, or don't you remember?
"People should not mix X with vodka!"
You were fucking wasted. (looked sexy as shit though, until you started crawling around Matt's yard puking)
I'll never forget that.
Chill out Bro, I don't even know you.
Comment removed for CoC violation [ph]Is that your fantasy?
Quit fapping bro, kiddie porn is two doors down.
Don't feel bad .Comment removed for CoC violation [ph] ... but not all the time .
Putting 2 & 2 together I am led to believe that social media are especially powerful in an urban environment ...
Forgive me, Feronia, for I have sinned. I laughed till I peedwith that one.
You get awfully defensive/offensive for someone who is supposed to be tough . But it is only in your own head ... Comment removed for CoC violation [ph]
If I visit Colo I'd have better things to do ...
Do you have anyone particular in mind about the knee cutting thing ... considering that you don't even have a twitter account ?
Dear Friend Feronia: My take on this is that the Internet is neither a safe or private media vehicle.
Whatever goes into the cloud is a form of immortality, for good and bad.
As one of my teacher once said, "When in doubt, don't".
Peace, Abundant Blessings and Good Judgment for All in Cyber Space.
Enoch.
And here I was under the impression that Obama did not approve of twitter ... I stay away from Facebook too . I chuckle to myself every time I read about a new way that FB users get hacked and exposed without their permission ... hahahaha !
By Emma Barnett, Technology Correspondent
2:23PM BST 30 Apr 2009
The Labour MP, who is minister for Further Education and MP for Birmingham Erdington, used the platform to tweet a joke about Britains Got Talent singing sensation, Susan Boyle, being to blame for the swine flu. It was particularly insensitive as it chimed in with the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, announcing that two more Britons had been diagnosed with the potential pandemic.
Simon tweeted: Im not saying Susan Boyle caused swine flu. Im just saying that nobody had swine flu, she sang on TV, people got swine flu.
However Simon is not alone in causing controversy via Twitter . Here are 10 examples of other terrible tweets:
1. Matt Horne , the Gavin and Stacey actor, was obviously so angered by the poor press his new show received, Horne & Corden, he tweeted: It means a lot when Josef Fritzl is getting better press than us.
2. Hugh Jackman came under fire when one of his tweets mistakenly called Australias Sydney Opera House, the Opera Centre. The Australian actor had to come clean that he wasnt writing his own posts, instead dictating them over the phone.
Related Articles
Netiquette: Debrett's guide to Twitter and Facebook
07 Apr 2011Sion Simon MP on Twitter: 'Susan Boyle caused swine flu'
30 Apr 20093. Singer and Kurt Cobain widow, Courtney Love , is being sued by a fashion designer who alleged that she attempted a smear campaign against her on Twitter. Dawn Simorangkir says Love embarked in what is nothing short of an obsessive and delusional crusade to terrorise and destroy her in court papers.
4. Ashton Kutcher , the American actor and presenter, posted a picture of his wife, Demi Moores, bottom on Twitter, as she bent over in a white bikini. The accompanying tweet said: Shhh!, dont tell wifey and was then followed up by: Watching my wife steam my suit while wearing a bikini. I love God!
5. The National Basketball Association fined Dallas Mavericks Owner, Mark Cuban , $25,000 for criticizing the referees in a Mavericks-Denver Nuggets game in a frustrated tweet. The Mavericks lost and then Cuban tweeted: How do they not call a tech on JR Smith for coming off the bench to taunt our player on the ground? He is believed to be the first person to be fined by a sports league for comments on Twitter.
6. Actress Lindsay Lohan launched a Twitter rant at her former lover Samantha Ronson, accusing the DJ of cheating on her. She made a string of accusations against her, such as: I was right all along. Cheat, followed up with, Being cheated on does wonders to you. Im doing this publicly because u&ur friends call [US magazine] People. So you win, you broke my heart. Now go away. I loved you.
7. Controversial comedian Russell Brand claimed that MPs deliberately stirred up the row over the Andrew Sachs affair, which lost him his job as a presenter on BBC Radio 2, to distract from the public concerns about their expense claims. He joked on Twitter that he would pay the 150,000 fine levied against the BBC by Ofcom, by putting it on his expense account. But then added he couldn't do that because he was not a corrupt MP.
8. American Republican politician, Jeff Frederick , tweeted too early for his own good, when he stopped a senator switching parties to help the Republicans gain a majority in Virginia. Hearing that Democratic state senator Ralph Northam had agreed to switch parties, he tweeted: Big news coming out of Senate: Apparently one dem is either switching or leaving the dem caucus. Negotiations for power sharing underway. Virginia Democrats spotted the tweet and persuaded Northam to stay in the party.
9. The media savvy people who work at Mars-owned Skittles, instead of building their own website, redirected Skittles.com to a Twitter search results page. They had not prepared for pranksters to flood the page with unflattering remarks about the brand such as: Skittles got stuck in my mouth while I was driving, forced me to slam into orphanage, killing hundreds. Ill never eat them again.
10. Twitter user theconner was happy as she had just landed a well-paid job from internet company Cisco, but was not sure whether to accept. She tweeted the following: Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work. However soon after the company rescinded the offer tweeting: Who is the hiring manager? Im sure they would love to know you will hate the work. We here at Cisco are versed in the web.
I'm thinking I would only post my penis on FB ... and no personal text details but that is probably illegal ...
Hahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!! ...except that last part regarding the throat descriptive.
Kavika - your comment is spot on. It "appears" there are more and more people who have decided that they are the sole judge and jury on anything and everything.
We have excellent examples on blogs, such as NT, where an individual may say something and within minutes be shredded apart because another person decided what was said was inappropriate/inaccurate/wrong. Where is the "what do you mean"????