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TheInternetAndTheNewRacism 6 - 12 Apr 2012 - Main.SoYeonKim
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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. | | | I agree with most of the points made above. I think internet commentary/postings have enabled people to feel free to say whatever they want with no fear of public reprisal or retribution. Many of these offensive commentaries tend to be a mix of someone wanting to spark controversy as well as voice their actual opinions. In regards to the Hunger Games posts specifically, I thought the comments were probably a mixture (as mentioned above), but also reflect some of the struggles black actors are faced with when it comes to casting decisions in Hollywood. For instance, a couple of months ago when George Lucas was doing promotional work for the movie Red Tails, he spoke about the difficulties of trying to find funding for a movie featuring a predominantly black cast. Minority actors in general have had trouble securing roles in which they are the headliners. Despite the successes of actors such as Halle Berry and Denzel Washington, minority actors have not had significantly greater access to film roles. Even this year when Octavia Spencer won the oscar for best supporting actress, she was being recognized for a stereotypical role traditionally relegated to black women (not to take anything away from her performance, which was well deserving). The Hunger Games commentators showed a disapproval of using black actors for roles in which they had envisioned white characters. These comments, even those that were just meant to spark controversy, reflect the continued struggle for black actors to obtain acting jobs that do not pigeon hole them into certain stereotypes, e.g. thug, drug dealer, crooked cop, etc. As everyone has pointed out, the proper response is not censor the commentators (which would be an example of the cure being worse than the disease), but for there to be more vocal backlash against people who make these kinds of statements. There will most likely always be some forms of racism in this country, but the important point is to emphasize that racist commentary is not tolerated and does not have a place in civil public discourse.
-- ManuelLorenzo - 11 Apr 2012 | |
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> | This is a really interesting thread. I may be going off topic (or just on the broader topic of hateful comments on the internet generally) but I wanted to share what I thought. I was wondering how the law figures into all of this, hateful comments on the Internet, I mean. I am aware of a similar problem in Korea, which is where I come from, although race usually never the topic because Korea is an almost entirely racially homogenous society. You cannot read and article or go to an online forum without encountering hateful comments; they are literally everywhere. Sociologists attribute this behavior to a certain dissatisfaction with society and more specifically the economy. People who write offensive comments are predominantly in their teens and twenties. The rise in this offensive activity on the Internet correlates with a rise of youth unemployment rate and a general dissatisfaction with the government. People vent on the Internet because of a vague but overwhelming sense of frustration and desperation. Anyway, I was wondering how law could solve this problem. Defamation suits have worked only marginally in Korea because even those defamed are unwilling to press charged because a) most offenders and young and b) they have a general belief that online comments are somewhat too “petty” to go to court for (or alternatively that words are easier to get over). Also, with race, if comments are not directed at a specific person but a race generally, defamation, or any legal remedy for that matter would not work. I wonder whether there is a more effective legal apparatus to deal with malicious comments on this Internet without curtailing freedom of speech… |
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