When things go too far...or not far enough.

[progressive hunter]

First...there was “me too”.

What started as a movement to bring attention to all too frequent sexual harassment and assault in the professional world, too often hidden out of fear of retaliation or black listing.

A good cause. It exposed the seamy dark underbelly of the entertainment industry, among other things. But then, it went haywire. We went from presumption of innocence to assumption of guilt. People were pressured to resign or promptly fired, often for relatively benign misconduct. Promptly fired. No recourse.

Now, we are facing something similar with racism. A tale of two videos I saw.

The first was one that went viral, we all saw it. A birdwatcher in Central Park asking a woman to leash her dog in a leashed area of the park. She refused, and in the process totally lost it, calling the police to claim an African American male was assaulting her. An allegation that could have cost him his life at worst. She was vilified, fired, and had her dog taken from her. I think it isfair to say she learned a valuable lesson.

The second was a video of a white woman, approaching a black man painting a BLM sign on the cement wall in front of a house in a nice neighborhood. She approaches him and proceeds to ask him what he is doing, and does he realize this is private property. He responds, but in such a way that he baits her imo, does not identify himself as the owner, and leads us to conclude this is a micro aggression, that she is assuming because he is black he cant possibly be the owner of that expensive property. He never identifies as the owner to her in the clip I saw. Her husband videos it. After it became public...he was fired.

IMO...that is going too far. To be fired over a perception of racism? I seldom confront people..but seeing someone, anyone, painting something onto a wall...my first thought might be graffiti And were I a nosy bossy busy body I might confront them. Is it racist? That is really grey. Seems this might be an educational moment for the property owner....to push her, then point out he is the owner of the property. Embarressing for her...but maybe then she would rethink her assumptions and get to know her neighbors. But Instead her husband lost his job. Is that right?

I will have to find the video.

just look what they did to aunt jemima,,
all she did was be successful and they dug her up and fired her,,,


the democrats have gone full evil,,,

How did the Dems do anything about aunt Jemimah? That was a business making a business decision and also a good example of what my thread is about. Knee jerk reactions going to far.

You keep trying to make it political but it is people, not politicians, driving this, often they just jump on board for political expediency.

We need change....that is at tbe heart of me too and BLM...but not at the cost of fair justice.

metoo and BLM are a joke because they ignore the real problems and attack anyone that disagrees,,

and your deflection of why that business decided to lynch aunt jemima is noted and mocked,,,


and NO we dont need change we need individual responsibility instead of government welfare that caused its downfall,,,

 

[Remodeling Maidiac]

You also seem to avoid all responsibility from your own side in your hatred of Obama.

Right! Lol

Because I never took a stand against that old man running for the senate who hit on teenage girls (forget his name) or the jackass from Missouri who said women enjoy rape or the plethora of threads I create calling out Trumps bullshit.

You're talking out of your ass

Sure dude. You have occasionally, kudos for that...but you spend most of a post bitching about in a thread that has nothing to do with him.

I wasn't bitching about Obama lol. He was a point of reference for a timeline because you seem to think all this turmoil is new for some ridiculous reason.

 

[irosie91]

First...there was “me too”.

What started as a movement to bring attention to all too frequent sexual harassment and assault in the professional world, too often hidden out of fear of retaliation or black listing.

A good cause. It exposed the seamy dark underbelly of the entertainment industry, among other things. But then, it went haywire. We went from presumption of innocence to assumption of guilt. People were pressured to resign or promptly fired, often for relatively benign misconduct. Promptly fired. No recourse.

Now, we are facing something similar with racism. A tale of two videos I saw.

The first was one that went viral, we all saw it. A birdwatcher in Central Park asking a woman to leash her dog in a leashed area of the park. She refused, and in the process totally lost it, calling the police to claim an African American male was assaulting her. An allegation that could have cost him his life at worst. She was vilified, fired, and had her dog taken from her. I think it isfair to say she learned a valuable lesson.

The second was a video of a white woman, approaching a black man painting a BLM sign on the cement wall in front of a house in a nice neighborhood. She approaches him and proceeds to ask him what he is doing, and does he realize this is private property. He responds, but in such a way that he baits her imo, does not identify himself as the owner, and leads us to conclude this is a micro aggression, that she is assuming because he is black he cant possibly be the owner of that expensive property. He never identifies as the owner to her in the clip I saw. Her husband videos it. After it became public...he was fired.

IMO...that is going too far. To be fired over a perception of racism? I seldom confront people..but seeing someone, anyone, painting something onto a wall...my first thought might be graffiti And were I a nosy bossy busy body I might confront them. Is it racist? That is really grey. Seems this might be an educational moment for the property owner....to push her, then point out he is the owner of the property. Embarressing for her...but maybe then she would rethink her assumptions and get to know her neighbors. But Instead her husband lost his job. Is that right?

I will have to find the video.

just look what they did to aunt jemima,,
all she did was be successful and they dug her up and fired her,,,


the democrats have gone full evil,,,

I like that picture of Aunt Jemima. ------If Uncle Ben gets fired------I will weep. What ever happened to UNCLE REMUS?

 

[Olde Europe]

First...there was “me too”.

What started as a movement to bring attention to all too frequent sexual harassment and assault in the professional world, too often hidden out of fear of retaliation or black listing.

A good cause. It exposed the seamy dark underbelly of the entertainment industry, among other things. But then, it went haywire. We went from presumption of innocence to assumption of guilt. People were pressured to resign or promptly fired, often for relatively benign misconduct. Promptly fired. No recourse.

Now, we are facing something similar with racism. A tale of two videos I saw.

The first was one that went viral, we all saw it. A birdwatcher in Central Park asking a woman to leash her dog in a leashed area of the park. She refused, and in the process totally lost it, calling the police to claim an African American male was assaulting her. An allegation that could have cost him his life at worst. She was vilified, fired, and had her dog taken from her. I think it isfair to say she learned a valuable lesson.

The second was a video of a white woman, approaching a black man painting a BLM sign on the cement wall in front of a house in a nice neighborhood. She approaches him and proceeds to ask him what he is doing, and does he realize this is private property. He responds, but in such a way that he baits her imo, does not identify himself as the owner, and leads us to conclude this is a micro aggression, that she is assuming because he is black he cant possibly be the owner of that expensive property. He never identifies as the owner to her in the clip I saw. Her husband videos it. After it became public...he was fired.

IMO...that is going too far. To be fired over a perception of racism? I seldom confront people..but seeing someone, anyone, painting something onto a wall...my first thought might be graffiti And were I a nosy bossy busy body I might confront them. Is it racist? That is really grey. Seems this might be an educational moment for the property owner....to push her, then point out he is the owner of the property. Embarressing for her...but maybe then she would rethink her assumptions and get to know her neighbors. But Instead her husband lost his job. Is that right?

I will have to find the video.

Interesting.

I'd suggest, in order to clarify what the issue really is, we separate a few things.

First: MeToo is, as far as "movements" go, an unmitigated good. It was long, very long overdue.

Second: Within society there are a number of people who know no greater fun than making, and watching, other people suffer. Calling the police on an "assaulter" (when there was no assault) is a potentially deadly form of that condition. This sort of people sometimes seem to coalesce in movements, hijacking a righteous cause, and knowing no end in their punitive efforts. That needs to be pointed out, and countered. Movements, that is, need to check themselves, figure out if and where boundaries are being crossed, where the righteous cause and the punitive effect are no longer in proportion (as you point out, I believe).

Third, as to losing jobs: That is not something to do with any "movement", but a feature of plutocratic rule. Elect folks who would instate rules for firings that are more restrictive - problem solved. Or so it would appear to me.

Fourth, and that's where the real problems arise: The most dangerous form of the above, combined, occurs when folks delighting in making others suffer take over movements and become powerful enough to influence law- and policy-making designed to make more people suffer. There were, and are, two particularly ghoulish forms of that in the form of kids, separated from their parents and in cages without a shower or a toothbrush, and, more recently, obliterating the protections of Dreamers against deportation.

This is not terribly well thought out, but...

Let's vigorously criticize MeToo (etc.) for going too far, while protecting the good core. It will make the movement better, and maybe they can get rid of bigots in their ranks.

The main focus should be on politically organized mass brutality.

The nosy, bossy busybody shooting the video of the graffiti artist and the confrontation - "I got him, on video, no less, now let's make him suffer!" - had it coming. I am sort of fine with people being hoist with their own petard.

 

[JOSweetHeart]

No question about our magnificent language is "dumb"!

I checked the online Merriam Webster Dictionary.

The word may be "homonym."

to, too, two = same pronunciation but different spelling and different meaning.

quail (the bird) , to quail (to cringe) = same pronunciation and same spelling but different meaning.

Have a nice weekend!

Thank you.

God bless you always!!!

Holly

 

[Sun Devil 92]

An english teacher was one day teaching "homophones"...words that sound identical but have different meanings (like close and cloths).

The teacher was fired for speaking bad things about gays...He explained that homophones has nothing to do with gays but it didn't matter...he never got his job back.

Link please.

This sounds crazy.