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How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life by victorVIC1(m): 5:22pm On Feb 13, 2015 |
By JON RONSON FEBRUARY 12, 2015 As she made the long journey from New York to South Africa, to visit family during the holidays in 2013, Justine Sacco, 30 years old and the senior director of corporate communications at IAC, began tweeting acerbic little jokes about the indignities of travel. There was one about a fellow passenger on the flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport: “ ‘Weird German Dude: You’re in First Class. It’s 2014. Get some deodorant.’ — Inner monologue as I inhale BO. Thank God for pharmaceuticals.” Then, during her layover at Heathrow: “Chilly — cucumber sandwiches — bad teeth. Back in London!” And on Dec. 20, before the final leg of her trip to Cape Town: “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!” She chuckled to herself as she pressed send on this last one, then wandered around Heathrow’s international terminal for half an hour, sporadically checking her phone. No one replied, which didn’t surprise her. She had only 170 Twitter followers. Sacco boarded the plane. It was an 11-hour flight, so she slept. When the plane landed in Cape Town and was taxiing on the runway, she turned on her phone. Right away, she got a text from someone she hadn’t spoken to since high school: “I’m so sorry to see what’s happening.” Sacco looked at it, baffled. Then another text: “You need to call me immediately.” It was from her best friend, Hannah. Then her phone exploded with more texts and alerts. And then it rang. It was Hannah. “You’re the No. 1 worldwide trend on Twitter right now,” she said. Sacco’s Twitter feed had become a horror show. “In light of @Justine-Sacco disgusting racist tweet, I’m donating to @care today” and “How did @JustineSacco get a PR job?! Her level of racist ignorance belongs on Fox News. #AIDS can affect anyone!” and “I’m an IAC employee and I don’t want @JustineSacco doing any communications on our behalf ever again. Ever.” And then one from her employer, IAC, the corporate owner of The Daily Beast, OKCupid and Vimeo: “This is an outrageous, offensive comment. Employee in question currently unreachable on an intl flight.” The anger soon turned to excitement: “All I want for Christmas is to see @JustineSacco’s face when her plane lands and she checks her inbox/voicemail” and “Oh man, @JustineSacco is going to have the most painful phone-turning-on moment ever when her plane lands” and “We are about to watch this @JustineSacco bitch get fired. In REAL time. Before she even KNOWS she’s getting fired.” The furor over Sacco’s tweet had become not just an ideological crusade against her perceived bigotry but also a form of idle entertainment. Her complete ignorance of her predicament for those 11 hours lent the episode both dramatic irony and a pleasing narrative arc. As Sacco’s flight traversed the length of Africa, a hashtag began to trend worldwide: #HasJustineLandedYet. “Seriously. I just want to go home to go to bed, but everyone at the bar is SO into #HasJustineLandedYet. Can’t look away. Can’t leave” and “Right, is there no one in Cape Town going to the airport to tweet her arrival? Come on, Twitter! I’d like pictures #HasJustineLandedYet.” A Twitter user did indeed go to the airport to tweet her arrival. He took her photograph and posted it online. “Yup,” he wrote, “@JustineSacco HAS in fact landed at Cape Town International. She’s decided to wear sunnies as a disguise.” By the time Sacco had touched down, tens of thousands of angry tweets had been sent in response to her joke. Hannah, meanwhile, frantically deleted her friend’s tweet and her account — Sacco didn’t want to look — but it was far too late. “Sorry @JustineSacco,” wrote one Twitter user, “your tweet lives on forever.” http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/magazine/how-one-stupid-tweet-ruined-justine-saccos-life.html?_r=1&referrer= |
Re: How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life by Nobody: 2:36am On Feb 14, 2015 |
1. Please post on topic always. Don't derail or tribalize threads. 2. Don't abuse, bully, deliberately insult/provoke, fight, or wish harm to any Nairaland member. 3. Don't THREATEN, advocate, or encourage violent acts against any person, tribe, race, animals, or group. 4. Discussions of the art of love-making should be restricted to the hidden sexuality section. 5. Don't post pornographic or disgusting pictures or videos on any section of Nairaland. 6. Don't post adverts or affiliate links outside the areas where adverts are explicitly allowed. 7. Don't say or do anything that's detrimental to the security, success, or IMAGE of Nairaland. 8. Don't post false information on Nairaland. 9. Don't use Nairaland for illegal acts, e.g fraud, piracy, and spreading malware. 10. Don't expose the identity or post pictures of any Nairaland member without his/her consent. 11. Don't create distracting posts with: ALL WORDS BOLD / huge font sizes / ALL CAPS / distracting images. 12. Don't insert signatures into your posts. Instead, add the desired signature to your profile. 13. Please report any post or topic that violates the rules of Nairaland. 14. Please search the forum before creating a new thread on Nairaland. 15. Don't attempt to post censored words by misspelling them. 16. Don't promote MLM schemes, HYIPS, or other questionable schemes on Nairaland. 18. Don't spam the forum by advertising in the wrong places or posting the same content many times. 19. Don't create a new account when banned for breaking a rule. If you do, make sure we don't find out. 20. Please respect, OBEY, and cooperate with the moderators, super-moderators, and admin. Never insult them. 21. Please spell words correctly when you post, and try to use perfect grammar and punctuation. ...was gonna post an advise,but just couldnt pass on this lengthy rules! haha just mind what you post online, cos you can't tell who reads it. Happy Val to y'all. (its my birthday). |
Re: How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life by victorVIC1(m): 7:01am On Feb 14, 2015 |
Was gonna post an advise,but just couldnt pass on this lengthy rules! haha just mind what you post online, cos you can't tell who reads it. Happy Val to y'all. (its my birthday). [/quote] Hmmmm...If only Justine Sacco was familiar with some of nairaland rules.BTW, Happy birthday and val to u @ BigBang666.Many more fruitful years ahead. |
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