This isn’t about justice, this is about power and bullying.
How many of these kids are going to become genuinely antiracist v. go further extremist?
teenvogue.com/story/skai-jac…
How many of these kids are going to become genuinely antiracist v. go further extremist?
teenvogue.com/story/skai-jac…
2. I forgot to point out that what Jackson is doing is called interactive escalation and leads to mutual radicalization.
3. The folks on the far right NEED people like her because this behavior reinforces their beliefs in the evils of POC/leftists/whomever they’re railing against and makes it easier to recruit people who have been harmed by the enemy group.
4. Young people can be especially vulnerable to being radicalized. If Jackson’s advocacy/bullying succeeds in getting these kids expelled from high school or having college acceptance rescinded, what do people think will happen to these kids?
5. We’re still in a pandemic.
Finding a job might be difficult/impossible due to lack of jobs but also because employers may find the posts she’s sharing.
Once upon a time a well-off kid who had college taken away might go backpacking in Europe for a year. Can’t do that now.
Finding a job might be difficult/impossible due to lack of jobs but also because employers may find the posts she’s sharing.
Once upon a time a well-off kid who had college taken away might go backpacking in Europe for a year. Can’t do that now.
6. So you’re going to take away the educational and employment opportunities from someone who already may have some racist or discriminatory leanings?
7. Maybe their high school isn’t so diverse but if they were on their way to college that might be a place where they could get away from the family, friends, and community from whom they may have learned these ideas.
8. Even the workplace can be somewhere they would encounter people different form themselves.
9. So, you don’t want the racists in school, where they could learn things (I guess we only believe that school uplifts people in 3rd world countries now?), you don’t want them to work, what do you think they’re going to do with all their free time?
10. Most activities for young people are still cancelled. So they’ll be indoors, online, most likely being disgruntled about the people who ruined their lives and looking for content that reinforces their feelings of vicitimhood.
11. They’re unlikely to be reading Robin DiAngelo and Ta-Nahesi Coates and attending Zoom antiracist trainings.
12. If we’re lucky, maybe they’ll find Glenn Loury, John McWhorter, Kmele, Thomas Chatterton Williams, Coleman Hughes, & Chloé Valdary but it seems more likely that they won’t.
13. Frankly, people like Jackson scare me. She’s not advocating for a less racist and more just society. She advocating for taking away the education and employment of people she deems unworthy of learning and making a living. Where do you think that kind of thinking ends?
15. A thread on my evangelical Christian upbringing, othering, and attention-seeking fearmongers on social media.
16. Update:
Someone sent me this Forbes article and one of the lists mentioned in it. It’s currently over 30 pages long. 😬 No way to know if any of the “evidence” is faked if the stories without evidence are true.
archive.vn/BxO08
forbes.com/sites/abrambro…
Someone sent me this Forbes article and one of the lists mentioned in it. It’s currently over 30 pages long. 😬 No way to know if any of the “evidence” is faked if the stories without evidence are true.
archive.vn/BxO08
forbes.com/sites/abrambro…
17. I didn't realize that what Jackson is doing is part of a larger teen-led movement to out purportedly racist classmates. This is horrifying.
18. The list I’m looking at says that the creator plans to turn it over to their school’s administration. It’s framed as giving people a chance to share their stories with the school. It appears that anyone can request access to edit and there is a Google form for submissions.
19. I recently learned that a friend had been involved in a group witchhunt with multiple targets that had happened in a community I was part of years ago. The witchhunt predated my time in the community but the stories were still told. It received some national media attention.
20. My friend told me they were innocent of the accusations and while I don’t know for certain, I’m inclined to believe them. It was clear that years later they were still distressed about having been targeted by this mob of people on the basis of false accusations.
21. To this day they don’t know why it happened. Is it something they think about every day? No. But it has affected their trust in people.
22. They’ve never spoken about it publicly which is why I can’t reveal any details. Fortunately for them, the media either did not receive their name or chose not to publish it. Others were named. This was pre-social media so there’s very little record of what happened.
23. To this day I don’t how accurate the accusations against the others were. But the tactics were similar to what we see happening now. It was akin to the struggle session @BretWeinstein was subjected to @ Evergreen in the hallway outside his classroom.
24. In Japan, the Buraku Liberation League employed a struggle session ritual they called 糾弾 "kyudan , the root verb being translated variously as "to denounce, censure" or "to bend or twist back to the correct position.””
25. It’s possible that some of these teens and young adults who are creating and managing these lists don’t understand the potential consequences of what they’re doing.
26. But their intentions aren’t going to be relevant to classmates who are falsely targeted or who aren’t defined by one social media post from 10 days or 10 years ago.
27. My friend is a professional. I have no idea where the people who targeted them are now but it’s entirely likely that my friend is more successful. It was upsetting for -me- to sit across from them and hear their story and see the pain on their face.
28. Witchhunting becomes possible when you depersonalize the other party and when you view everyone in black and white terms - good or evil, antiracist or racist.
29. Of course it’s also possible that some of the people making and populating these lists have personality disorders or dark triad traits and they are enjoying what they are doing.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_triad
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_triad
30. If you or someone you know is maintaining or populating a list of Bad People, I would urge you to reconsider if for no other reason than a selfish one. Today you hold the power but tomorrow it could be your name on a list.
31. Things can move very quickly on the internet, but once something is out there, it may be out there for all eternity. What’s in your history? People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
32. Been receiving a few DMs from people that made me realize I didn’t include any recommended reading/watching if you’re struggling to make sense of where we are. Here’s a follow up thread.
33. Update:
Someone just sent me a tweet replying to Skai Jackson that includes a screenshot of an Instagram post doxxing 2 Canadian teens. It has 3.2K likes and 437 retweets.
Someone just sent me a tweet replying to Skai Jackson that includes a screenshot of an Instagram post doxxing 2 Canadian teens. It has 3.2K likes and 437 retweets.
34. I’m a little unclear if Skai is directly responsible for this or if it happened independently on Instagram but this is the natural outcome of an online witchhunt. The Instagram post claims that one kid’s father was fired and they had to move. 
35. After I reported that tweet I realized that it had a reply from an account with 12 followers and this bio: "biggest ben shapiro fanboy and Trump stan” seeming to dox Jackson.
36. The tweet says "Eye for an eye” and includes a screenshot with what claims to be a current address in California and 3 previous addresses in California and New York. No idea if it’s accurate but the person’s intent is clear. Dox teenagers and we dox you.
37. I was also sent another tweet that the police are outside the home of one of these teens. It contains a blurry picture and I can’t see the city name on the police car. I checked for media reports and so far there’s nothing but there is a petition with almost 15K signatures
38. I checked for media reports and so far there’s nothing but I did find a petition with almost 15K signatures demanding that the students be expelled.
39. At this point it is clear that none of this is about George Floyd. Anyone starting or participating in this shit is an opportunist with underdeveloped or no empathy.
40. “Fix systemic racism” isn’t supposed to mean “stalk and harass teenagers, get them expelled, get their parents fired, send them death threats”.
41. Maybe their school will expel them.
Maybe they’ll put out a statement about how they have a no tolerance policy for racism.
Maybe they’ll set up some workshops.
None of that is going to fix whatever led to these kids making a racist video.
Maybe they’ll put out a statement about how they have a no tolerance policy for racism.
Maybe they’ll set up some workshops.
None of that is going to fix whatever led to these kids making a racist video.
42. I’m realizing that I should have shared @MikeNayna's 2016 documentary, Digilante. It’s about the aftermath of him posting a video of a confrontation on a bus that went viral in Australia in 2012. It’s only 30 minutes. Please consider watching.
@MikeNayna 43. @MikeNayna’s Digilante was featured by The Atlantic as part of their “The Atlantic Selects” series in February. If you don’t have 30 minutes you can read about it here.
archive.vn/XYzpO
theatlantic.com/video/index/60…
archive.vn/XYzpO
theatlantic.com/video/index/60…
