Law in Contemporary Society

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TheInternetAndTheNewRacism 9 - 26 Apr 2012 - Main.WilliamDavidWilliams
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 Every time I read a news article, a blog post, or anything else on the internet related to the issue of race, I try to avoid reading the user comments. The reason is that I know, with all certainty, that there will be a small but vocal group of anonymous posters who thrive on using their anonymity to incite racial hatred. I wish I could say that this was limited to an uneducated group of Mississippi rednecks, but even comments on race-related posts on Above the Law can rise to this level of small-minded discourse.

In fact, with the increasing popularity of twitter, many people don’t even try to hide behind a shroud of anonymity anymore. Most recently, with the release of the Hunger Games movie, there was a widely reported instance of apparent dissatisfaction and disapproval with the fact that many of the “good” characters in the movie were black. Of course, as soon as these users became aware that their tweets were being reported on major news sources like the Huffington Post, without their usernames redacted, they either deleted their tweets and made their accounts private or shut down their accounts altogether.

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 While I understand hesitation in opening the floodgates for defamation suits based on Internet speech, I think it hits close to home for what we were talking about earlier in this thread. As more of our lives are conducted on the internet, our real life identities and our online actions will increasingly overlap. Imposing liability for speech on the internet, even when the person believes themselves anonymous, is an important step in signaling that people are accountable for what they do on the internet. While it has been true for quite some time, the important thing is that society become aware of it so we can begin to adjust our behavior.

-- CameronLewis - 25 Apr 2012

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>		It's amazing what is revealed during extremely emotional, conflict laden periods ... the comments are not concealed but rather people are not afraid to let others know who they are at these particular times. That is why I believe it is a case of a systemic, institutionalized racist system that has resulted in subconscious thoughts, no longer able to be controlled, coming out at these "trying" times.

Case in Point: After one of the only black hockey players in the NHL, Joel Ward, scored the game winning goal for the Washington Capitals in a Game 7 win over the Boston Bruins, a flood of racist comments appeared on Twitter...

http://chirpstory.com/li/6781

It is a reminder that we have to correct a systemic problem because people often act on their subconscious "racist" thinking, which has an extremely detrimental effect on society. Some of those comments even referenced hanging, which echoes a period that many believe we have moved past. To the contrary, these beliefs are still here but embedded deeper in countless people,irrespective of color or creed. This does not happen by chance. Many people in our society want this to continue, although they go about this pursuit in a deceptive manner. This makes it the most effective.

This is why society desperately needs more creative, courageous lawyers.


Revision 9r9 - 26 Apr 2012 - 21:08:39 - WilliamDavidWilliams
Revision 8r8 - 25 Apr 2012 - 14:03:53 - CameronLewis
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