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TheInternetAndTheNewRacism 10 - 26 Apr 2012 - Main.ElizabethSullivan
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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. | | | 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. | |
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> | I apologize for not providing a more substantive response (it certainly deserves one and I would like to come back to it in the future), but I wanted to say for now that reading the posts in that link made me really ashamed to call Boston home. I suppose it is naive of me to feel shocked after reading that, but I do - I've never encountered that level of racism (or anywhere close) in the 25 years I've lived in Massachusetts. It's disturbing to become aware that racism continues to permeate a place that espouses liberalism and tolerance, but it is even more disturbing that I was not aware of it to begin with. Thank you for sharing that story and for giving me the opportunity to become more conscious of my surroundings.
-- ElizabethSullivan - 26 Apr 2012
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