I know; I know no one wants to talk about racism in America because this is the land of the free. Well it is but we have somethings that we could choose to work on; like how we treat others. I am sure that most of you have seen the verbally abusive video of the New Jersey woman screaming obscenities at a African American male. Now first let me ask how did that make you feel?
Now let me tell you how that made me feel.
Hurt.
Now I know that most people would say that is one person out of millions, which is true but now millions have seen it. Viral Racism seems to have become in epidemic in The United States of America. It seems that every other day that the internet is exposing yet another “racist” individual in the US. This simply annoys me. It is a constant reminder to minorities (of any race, gender, religion,sexual orientation and much more) that people do not like you! It is not like we did not know before but now the internet and its viral racism sensationalizes the actions of those who were wrong.
Viral Racism is everywhere from when we log on to Facebook or even when we scroll through twitter. When does this stop? Should racists tweets be allowed to be made? Does the term freedom of speech apply to racism, sexism or even religion?
Like honestly is this really acceptable? According to the business insider .com an article written by T. Manfred suggest two reason why viral racism exists.
1. Group polarization.It’s a simple concept: a group of like-minded people will become more extreme in their opinions after discussing it with each other.
2. How to get noticed on the Internet. The person with the loudest, most inflammatory opinion gets the most attention.
I think that he has an amazing point we tend to glorify those who speak their mind; or we ask them to submit a public sincere apology. Yet how do we teach them that hate is not acceptable in any form? How do they really now what they did was wrong?
Hate groups are more likely to develop online than in any other form! That is unacceptable someone should be holding people accountable for what they say AND what they spread. Also we have to take control of what we videos that we share or hit like to. Not everything is worth a like; but it goes along with the mantra bad news spreads faster than good news! And maybe in theses situations NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS!
STOP VIRAL RACISM!
References
The State of Hate: Exploiting the Internet to Promote Hatred – Confronting the New Faces of Hate. (2014, January 1). The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. Retrieved June 23, 2014, from http://www.civilrights.org/publications/hatecrimes/exploiting-internet.html
Manfred, T. (2012, May 24). Why Is The Internet So Racist?. Business Insider. Retrieved June 24, 2014, from http://www.businessinsider.com/internet-racism-2012-5
Talk, S. (2014, June 4). Racist Stripper Screams ‘N*gger’ At Black Man. YouTube. Retrieved June 24, 2014, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEe5neVTdOk
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Yep. Definitely a award-winning performance if that s**t wasn’t real. It is a truly sobering human phenomena Nia; how anger rises up in us and comes out at others, and how this can still happen today. Further, in this age this kind of thing is disseminated in a digital second. The man totally kept his cool and set a brilliant example of non-violent response.
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This was appalling. It is shocking how people will go out of their way to use racist verbiage to hurt another person. It is ignorant and shows the lack of understanding on how to communicate using proper language – like a point to what that woman was yelling about. I am white and I don’t feel like this would ever happen to me on the street. It’s really sad that people have to worry about this occurring to them. For how far people have come in accepting other races, religions, sexuality, and more it’s pathetic to see those who hold that back just because of their skin color or faith. I can’t stop shaking my head – just ridiculous.
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I agree with Laura. We’ve come so far to understand to respect others races, religions, sexuality. But still, there are people like the woman in the video will think that way, act that way, which is pathetic for sure.
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I agree, viral racism is something that is becoming more prevalent. Just like the picture of the young lady at her graduation who was breast feeding her child, the comments starting talking about how classless black people are. It is crazy that technology is now another means used to perpetuate such ignorance. The same goes for the new adaptation of the movie ANNIE, because a black girl is playing her now, all the racists went on a rant. I could on, but its sad.
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