How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life

NY Times ^ | February 12, 2015 | Jon Ronson

[C19fan]

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:

[lormand]

I hope I can live my entire life without the need to have a twitter account.

[fatima]

True,When news breaks and I don’t see it here I run to twitter.Just have to be careful of your sources.I have some high profile people who asked to be friends.I post mostly spiritual stuff so they tolerate me:)

[Rockitz]

Political correctness run-amok and the ensuing leftist attack machine on steroids. God help the GOP nominee in 2016.

[Old Teufel Hunden]

"she’s not responsible for her own racist comments"

If you read the article, what she was trying to poke fun at was the white waspy bubble that she lives in. She was poking fun at people who think like that. In other words, she was being sarcastic, but it didn't come across that way. I don't tweet, but if I did, I would never try to be funny or sarcastic. It will bite you in the butt.

[palmer]

Sacco pushed her food around on her plate, and let me in on one of the hidden costs of her experience. "I'm single; so it's not like I can date, because we Google everyone we might date," she said. "That's been taken away from me too."

I think that sums it up. She and her ilk are vain and stuck in the fake online world of their own making (and unmaking). She would never dream of dating someone who isn't glued to the internet.

[KC_Conspirator]

Oh look at the Julian Edelman pic this past week. I bet here parents are proud of her.

[cuban leaf]

Imagine if he tried to tweet it. :-D

[alexander_busek]

That is why I don't do social media. All it takes is one mistake and everything can crash down on you.

So what if you tweet something politically incorrect or abrasive? What, are you afraid of alienating your fanbase? Scared of losing your thousands of followers? What are you: Some kind of celebrity?

Regards,

[aquila48]

This has become the modern day public lynching by the. self appointed, self righteous, arbiters of moral indignation

[dfwgator]

If her job wasn’t in Public Relations, it would have been much ado about nothing.

[sergeantdave]

“This has become Stalinesque which is just what the freedom-hating Left wants.”

Exactly. We’re dealing with Marxist primitives, both socially and psychologically. A punch in the mouth or a boot in the butt shuts them up quickly. It’s what they understand and react to.

[jimbug]

I enjoyed my 30 year stint in corporate communications. The best piece of advice I heard (and often gave) was this: don’t put anything in writing that you wouldn’t want to see on the front page of the NYT.

[W.]

I think the joke she was trying to make was that she wasn’t going to be hopping into bed with any black guys in Africa. But I guess one can’t say THAT, either...

[PapaBear3625]

She and her ilk are vain and stuck in the fake online world of their own making (and unmaking). She would never dream of dating someone who isn't glued to the internet.

More to the point, she would not dream of dating the kind of guy who would have the attitude "Ok, you did a tweet without thinking. I suppose now you know better", and who would not be outraged at the "racism" of her tweet.

I'm sure there are lots of guys who would date her

[SoothingDave]

I’m pithy several times a day.

[PapaBear3625]

Her extended family in South Africa were African National Congress supporters — the party of Nelson Mandela. They were longtime activists for racial equality. When Justine arrived at the family home from the airport, one of the first things her aunt said to her was: “This is not what our family stands for. And now, by association, you’ve almost tarnished the family.”

She and her family were radical Leftists. And Leftist outrage brought her down.

This is the real story that now has many libs worried: one slip, and the wolves will rip YOU apart too.

[cuban leaf]

Just a sample:

Everything I need to know about the Catholic church I learned from the movie “The Blues Brothers”.

I know, I’m killin’ ya!

[5th MEB]

Don’t tweet, wouldn’t know how to tweet if I wanted to.
Don’t care what I say, I always have a good reason for saying it when I do.
Don’t care what the idiots out there in tweet land think, that’s their world not mine.
If they ever think I am a racist — SCREW’EM.
If they ever think I am a bigot —SCREW’EM.
I don’t get paid to be politically correct —SCREW’EM.
The glitterati’s pathetic little lives mean nothing to me so —SCREW’EM.

[Flycatcher]

I’m pithy several times a day.

I'm pithier. See?

[exit82]

I'm pithier. See?

Pithiest.