One of the great things about everyone having a video camera in their back pocket, and a willingness to whip it out (giggity) at a moment's notice, is that the scum of the earth no longer have that plausible he-said-she-said deniability their parents and grandparents relied on when caught doing or saying something awful. They are exposed for what they are.
Obviously, sometimes social media hive-mind gets carried away and transforms relative molehills into Kanchenjunga. And sometimes they're spot on.
Maybe I'm old-school, as the kids say with their dank memes, but I come from a time and place when most white people knew better than to follow a black guy home for the express purpose of sitting in his driveway and calling him the n-word over and over. Frankly, Charles Lovett deserves a goddamned medal for not walking over and yanking Jeff Whitman out of his work van, and knocking everyone of his fucking teeth down his throat.
Unless one is irretrievably insufferable in their absolute wokeness, most of us can agree that sometimes people say things in the heat of the moment that they regret, whether immediately afterward or when they've had time to cool down and/or sober up. But that's the standard line between an average fool and a true racist -- the fool is smart enough to make sure everyone understands that they are truly apologetic.
Notice that nowhere in the linked article does Jeff Whitman flat-out say that he's sorry, that he wishes he hadn't done what he did. The closest he can muster is to characterize it as an "awful mistake" and that he doesn't quite know how it happened. That's because he's not sorry about it at all -- he's simply sorry that it got caught on video and distributed on the internets. Which, you know, maybe Whitman should have known is a thing.
There's no reason to believe Whitman's self-serving bullshit about his mother and daughter being threatened. All racists are by definition liars, especially to themselves, but also anyone dumb enough to stay within auditory range of their bullshit. Anonymous broad-based "fuck your family, asshole" tweets do not count as actual threats.
As for Whitman losing his livelihood? Good. Actions have consequences, asshole. Look, even if you set aside the racism for a second (bear with me), you can't go around acting like an asshole in a company vehicle, and expect people not to notice.
I'm a bit of a road-rager at times myself, but a lot better than I used to be when I was younger and dumber. It's infuriating when people endanger you by yanking in front of you, swerving into your lane, tailgating, etc. You want to be able to tell assholes that they are assholes sometimes. So occasionally the magic finger flies.
But that's in my car, and even then extremely rarely; the last time that happened was four or five years ago. I drive a work vehicle between towns and sites at least once or twice a week, so I encounter morons on the road all the time. And as tempting as it might be to let them know what I really think, I let it go. Why? Because it might get back to my boss, and I could get suspended or fired.
And here we're just talking about the impulsive, split-second jab of the ol' freeway finger, not following someone to their home and yelling racial slurs at them for three minutes.
So fuck Jeff Whitman. Nowhere in his mewling plaints about how "despondent" he is over the "intensity" of everyone's "hate" for him is any actual contrition. Again, he's just sorry he got caught. He could do any number of things, starting with reaching out to Charles Lovett and making some actual gesture of sincere regret (since, you know, Whitman knows where Lovett lives).
But he doesn't, and won't, do anything at all. Because he's not really sorry. I would bet money he's an unrepentant Clownstick supporter; he thought that part of the package was going to be able to put those people back in their place, remind them that they're not really as equal as the last guy made them think they were.
We never do find out what exactly was the nature of the driving offense (though it may be in the initial coverage of the story), but you can bet that had Charles Lovett been white, Jeff Whitman would not have followed him home and hollered racial epithets at him. He probably wouldn't have even followed him home. (I mean, you hope he wouldn't have followed him home.) At worst, he might have flipped Lovett off and went on about his way, and forgotten about the whole thing ten minutes later.
And he wouldn't have to wonder why people are boycotting him out of business.
Obviously, sometimes social media hive-mind gets carried away and transforms relative molehills into Kanchenjunga. And sometimes they're spot on.
Maybe I'm old-school, as the kids say with their dank memes, but I come from a time and place when most white people knew better than to follow a black guy home for the express purpose of sitting in his driveway and calling him the n-word over and over. Frankly, Charles Lovett deserves a goddamned medal for not walking over and yanking Jeff Whitman out of his work van, and knocking everyone of his fucking teeth down his throat.
Unless one is irretrievably insufferable in their absolute wokeness, most of us can agree that sometimes people say things in the heat of the moment that they regret, whether immediately afterward or when they've had time to cool down and/or sober up. But that's the standard line between an average fool and a true racist -- the fool is smart enough to make sure everyone understands that they are truly apologetic.
Notice that nowhere in the linked article does Jeff Whitman flat-out say that he's sorry, that he wishes he hadn't done what he did. The closest he can muster is to characterize it as an "awful mistake" and that he doesn't quite know how it happened. That's because he's not sorry about it at all -- he's simply sorry that it got caught on video and distributed on the internets. Which, you know, maybe Whitman should have known is a thing.
There's no reason to believe Whitman's self-serving bullshit about his mother and daughter being threatened. All racists are by definition liars, especially to themselves, but also anyone dumb enough to stay within auditory range of their bullshit. Anonymous broad-based "fuck your family, asshole" tweets do not count as actual threats.
As for Whitman losing his livelihood? Good. Actions have consequences, asshole. Look, even if you set aside the racism for a second (bear with me), you can't go around acting like an asshole in a company vehicle, and expect people not to notice.
I'm a bit of a road-rager at times myself, but a lot better than I used to be when I was younger and dumber. It's infuriating when people endanger you by yanking in front of you, swerving into your lane, tailgating, etc. You want to be able to tell assholes that they are assholes sometimes. So occasionally the magic finger flies.
But that's in my car, and even then extremely rarely; the last time that happened was four or five years ago. I drive a work vehicle between towns and sites at least once or twice a week, so I encounter morons on the road all the time. And as tempting as it might be to let them know what I really think, I let it go. Why? Because it might get back to my boss, and I could get suspended or fired.
And here we're just talking about the impulsive, split-second jab of the ol' freeway finger, not following someone to their home and yelling racial slurs at them for three minutes.
So fuck Jeff Whitman. Nowhere in his mewling plaints about how "despondent" he is over the "intensity" of everyone's "hate" for him is any actual contrition. Again, he's just sorry he got caught. He could do any number of things, starting with reaching out to Charles Lovett and making some actual gesture of sincere regret (since, you know, Whitman knows where Lovett lives).
But he doesn't, and won't, do anything at all. Because he's not really sorry. I would bet money he's an unrepentant Clownstick supporter; he thought that part of the package was going to be able to put those people back in their place, remind them that they're not really as equal as the last guy made them think they were.
We never do find out what exactly was the nature of the driving offense (though it may be in the initial coverage of the story), but you can bet that had Charles Lovett been white, Jeff Whitman would not have followed him home and hollered racial epithets at him. He probably wouldn't have even followed him home. (I mean, you hope he wouldn't have followed him home.) At worst, he might have flipped Lovett off and went on about his way, and forgotten about the whole thing ten minutes later.
And he wouldn't have to wonder why people are boycotting him out of business.
1 comment:
I agree completely. The thing is, he had to have been conscious of the fact that he was in a vehicle with the company name on the side of it, which means that, as you say, setting aside the racism for a moment, he was completely out of control.
I've got a temper. On those rare occasions when I go ballistic and break the rules of civil society, I am perfectly aware that i throwing away something.
He knew what he was getting into and should probably get it.
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