So, Justine Finally Landed …

Posted on Comments

The unfortunate Justine Sacco, whose Friday tweet inspired the hashtag #HasJustineLandedYet, went into full grovel mode:

Today Sacco spoke to ABC News, saying, “My greatest concern was this statement reach South Africa first.” After sending her statement to South African newspaper The Star, Sacco shared the following apology:
“Words cannot express how sorry I am, and how necessary it is for me to apologize to the people of South Africa, who I have offended due to a needless and careless tweet,” Sacco said. “There is an AIDS crisis taking place in this country, that we read about in America, but do not live with or face on a continuous basis. Unfortunately, it is terribly easy to be cavalier about an epidemic that one has never witnessed firsthand.
“For being insensitive to this crisis — which does not discriminate by race, gender or sexual orientation, but which terrifies us all uniformly — and to the millions of people living with the virus, I am ashamed.
“This is my father’s country, and I was born here. I cherish my ties to South Africa and my frequent visits, but I am in anguish knowing that my remarks have caused pain to so many people here; my family, friends and fellow South Africans. I am very sorry for the pain I caused.”

As Ace accurately observed Friday, Sacco is a liberal, and her joke was actually a self-deprecating reference to white privilege. No one can deny that it was tasteless and, as she says, “insensitive,” but it scarcely justified her public crucifixion. Her apology, while no doubt sincere, is also a signifier: “I get it! I’m a liberal, too!”

But her liberalism (like all liberalism) is misguided, assuming as it does that the problem of AIDS in Africa (or any similar social problem) results from a shortage of caring. This is a species of Magic Thinking: “We could solve this problem, if only we cared enough.” And from this delusion, we get a lot of empty gestures that do nothing to solve problems, but make people feel good about themselves.

Thomas Sowell wrote an entire book about this, The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy — a book that no liberal has ever bothered to read, because if they bothered to read it, they wouldn’t be liberals anymore.

If you think that every problem of black people can be explained by racism, or that every problem of gay people can be explained by homophobia, certain conclusions are inherent in those premises, no matter how you construct your syllogism. One example is the way in which we monitor speech for “proof” that others secretly harbor forbidden sentiments, and immediately pounce upon anything that looks like such “proof,” like Justine’s tweet:

“Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS.
Just kidding. I’m white!”

Twelve words, and let’s get her fired from her job for making a bad joke on Twitter, as if getting her fired will purge the world of racism and thereby end AIDS in Africa. The Daily Mail reports.

The PR executive who was summarily dismissed after her racist Tweet sparked a revolt on social media has apologised – as her own father called her a ‘f****** idiot’.
Justine Sacco said that she was ‘ashamed’ over her actions and said she had been ‘cavalier’ in making her tasteless joke about the AIDS crisis in Africa.
But her father, who has not been publicly named, was more forthright and said that what she did was ‘unforgivable’.
He also apparently backed the campaign to name and shame his daughter as, in an ironic twist, it emerged he moved his family from Cape Town to the US in 1994 to escape racism at the end of Apartheid. . . .
Losing her job as a communications director could also mean losing her US work visa -potentially forcing her to leave America.

Well, I’m sure we’re all glad Justine’s father called her a “f**king idiot,” but did you notice something about that article?

So pervasive is what Sowell called The Vision of the Anointed that most people didn’t even notice this dishonest assumption. To say her tweet was “offensive” is one thing, but to label it “racist” is to assume to know Sacco’s intent when, as seems evident, her actual intent was anti-racist: “Sacco is a young, professional, New York woman. Chances are about 99.9% that she’s a BuzzFeed-loving, Obama-voting, MSNBC addict.”

If anything, Sacco’s tweet betokened the arrogance of a young liberal who assumes that all her friends (and she had fewer than 200 Twitter followers before Friday) understand she is not racist, whereas if she were a Fox-watching, Limbaugh-listening conservative Republican, she would understand that she is constantly suspected of secretly hating everyone who is not rich, white and heterosexual. Remember when Rush Limbaugh got kicked off ESPN? Even I have forgotten exactly what he said, but it was something about a black quarterback and the lesson was obvious: No Republican is ever allowed to criticize a black person, which has worked out rather nicely for Democrats since 2008, eh?

Apologies for contradicting bad ideas are never going fix any problem, especially not problems caused by liberalism itself.

NAACP investigating sheriff who
refused to lower flag for Mandela’s death

The Thought Police are always watching, aren’t they?

 

 

UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers! I liked this from the comments:

There was a time when even the Left considered Lord of the Flies a cautionary tale. Now they treat it like an instruction manual.

And finally someone got the allusion!

Ah yes, If the author of Justine were alive today he most certainly would be heading a modern media organization rather than staging his plays inside an insane asylum.

 


141 comments

  1. As I understand it, Rush opined that the black quarterback was being built up so much by the media _because he was black_ that the young man might be doomed to failure; he couldn’t possibly live up to the [guilty white liberal] hype.

    Pretty “duh” but then there is an entire website dedicated to how “racist” I am! 🙂

  3. They’ve begun feeding on each other, as I noted in another thread. Even her own family has had to join the Soviet style denunciations.

    Welcome to Obama’s America. Now go read some Solzhenitsyn. And remember how outraged Western leftists were when he “betrayed” the USSR.

  4. Donovon McNab. And I remember that, I who cannot stand pro sports.

    He was an example of what’s been called the Numinous Negro. And if such people do stumble, it’s the fault of white Republicans, not a result of the impossible situation they’ve been placed in.

    Just as early blame for the massive sh*t sandwich that is Obamacare was placed on Republicans, apparently for not joining the cargo cult worship.

  5. Ah, sweet, sweet Schadenfreude!

    I hope ten thousand more liberals, gays, blacks, wymyns, and others who have used these phony excuses to ruin others suffer themselves.

    The more of the “privileged” classes who are hoist on their own petards, so to speak, the sooner this nonsense will end once and for all.

  9. How Liberals argue.

    ‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose
    it to mean — neither more nor less.’

  10. Her joke was more anti-white, as Stacy mentions, yet she is being hung out to dry for anti-black racism. Ridiculous.

    The word “racist” has lost all meaning. You can be called a racist now for just mentioning that different races exist, or even worse, politely disagreeing with Obama’s policies.

  11. Even her own family has had to join the Soviet style denunciations.

    More like Maoist “self-criticism,” but yes, it’s the Thought Police, ensuring ideological conformity.

  12. “He also apparently backed the campaign to name and shame his daughter
    as, in an ironic twist, it emerged he moved his family from Cape Town to
    the US in 1994 to escape racism at the end of Apartheid.”

    Wait, what?!? I thought it was the end of apartheid that put an end to South African racism. Maybe the nuance here is that when Sacco’s father left South Africa for the US, not only did South African racism diminish, but American racism increased.

    That is an explanation that should make everyone happy. Sacco’s father sounds like the kind of guy who wouldn’t mind his own reputation being ruined, as long as the right people approve.

  13. Stacy, the reading of the tweet you & Ace have offered seems correct. Liberals must be pretty dense if they view this as either a “joke” or as some sort of racist statement. It seems more like a bitter slam against whites in general who don’t care much about how many blacks are dying from AIDS in Africa. The exclamation mark at the end makes that even clearer — she’s parodying the happy, ignorance-is-bliss attitude of whites who travel to Africa and, even while there, don’t care about blacks dying from AIDS.

    What is most puzzling is why Sacco didn’t explain that she intended her tweet as an attack AGAINST uncaring whites. If she did in fact intend her tweet as a protest against those not doing enough to stop AIDS in Africa, she should have said that, while presumably apologizing for using sly/ironic/parody language that obviously could easily be misunderstood. You’d think a PR person could better defend her own original tweet. Her statement makes it seem that she admitting that in her original tweet it was SHE who was being cavalier about the subject, when in fact it may be that she was attacking OTHERS for being so cavalier.

    The one think you have on Sacco, Stacy, is that you never seem to make a controversial post or tweet without sticking around to defend yourself, in real time, as necessary!

  15. Heard behind closed doors at the Sacco home today:
    “Justine, you really are a f***ing idiot. We had a real shot at joining the Inner Party and now we’ll be lucky if we don’t get reduced to Prole status and even lose our Victory Gin ration. Nice going, cupcake. It’s off to 12-Step Self-Criticism for you.”

  16. I think A&E needs to do a reality TV show called “The Haters,” starring everybody who ever voted Republican.
    ============
    LOL it’s things like this that got me convinced in joining Twitter!!

    hey, we’re h8ters but lovin’, carin’, and decent! Did you see that Charlie Sheen is heading the new National Legion of Decency? (DD flap reference)

  17. Of course she should have gotten fired. She’s a PR exec. That she didn’t realize PR disaster would flow from that tweet is gross incompetance. She’s not a racist, she’s just crappy at her job.

  19. AIDS crisis?

    Let’s see:

    Can’t keep your pants zipped up? Yeah, you’re at risk.
    Putting your genitalia someplace it was designed or intended for? Yeah, you’re at risk.
    Science illiterate believing some crap about magically preventing AIDS? Yeah, you’re at risk.
    Believe crap from brain dead socialists about some “white man conspiracy” to afflict the black race with AIDS? Yeah, you’re at risk.

    Wouldn’t “man caused disaster” actually be the more appropriate term? (And give that stupid phrase a legitimate purpose in the world?)

  20. I wonder if she participated in the attempts to smear Phil Robertson. If so, this seems like just deserts.

  21. TO: Justine’s Father
    RE: Unforegiveable?

    You’re some kinda ‘dad’ and ‘Christian’.

    Glad you’re not part of my family or church.

  22. I recall the day after McNabb fell on his face during his one Super Bowl
    appearance all Rush said was :”I am not saying a thing about yesterday’s game.”

  24. Losing her job as a communications director could also mean losing her US work visa -potentially forcing her to leave America

    …Chances are about 99.9% that she’s a BuzzFeed-loving, Obama-voting …

    Um, dude.

    How does she get to vote if she has a USA work visa that can be pulled and she can be forced to leave America?

  26. Nelson Mandela forgave his white captors who imprisoned and tortured him for 27 years just for wanting freedom and the tolerant left wants to execute Jusine Sacco for a stupid twelve word tweet. <——— The Left I Know.

  27. There isn’t a freedom of speech issue here. The First Amendment only protects us from the government not fellow citizens.

  28. It’s all so silly. She certainly didn’t deserved to be fired. Although people do get fired for doing dumb things this doesn’t meet the requirements, IMHO. If we started firing everyone who says stupid things we would be looking for a new President and VP right now.

    “Stupid” is tweeting…tweeting in general but especially saying anything that shouldn’t be said in 140 characters…and things having to do with national reputations or race don’t generally fit in 140 characters.
    Of course, when your philosophy of life revolves around zero tolerance for things outside your narrow PC limits then you deserve to get back what you put out there.

    Poetic justice for the stupid.

  32. She might be an idiot, but her Dad’s an ass. Wonder if her mother loves her. Wonderful Christmas the family will be having, although as bonifide liberals, they probably have no idea what that means

  34. Legally, you’re correct – but the customary practice was that you were free to say what you wanted in this country.

  35. This, BTW, was NOT the line back when it was communists being ostracized. Or how it was HORRIBLE when people destroyed Dixie Chicks CDs in protest of their idiocy.

    It’s amazing how, when the fascists got hold of the cultural reins, suddenly only government action matters. And how selectively that line is applied. The left had no objections to politicians grandstanding against Chik-Fil-A.

  36. Strangely, the ideal of free speech has no exceptions for what people do for a living.

    Was the account a corporate account? No. Was she purporting to speak for them? No. So the reason to drag her occupation into the matter is to justify the torches and pitchforks you’re carrying.

  38. The reality is that it doesn’t matter one bit what Rush actually said, anymore than it matters what Robertson or Sacco said. What mattered was that the Horn was Sounded, the Hunt started, and the maenads were out for blood.

  39. No mea culpa will erase this in the eyes of the Prognazis. She will either have commit hari kari with Boehner’s gavel (since he and Cantor aren’t using it), or become a moderate Republican. Lesson to all young Progs: 1 mistake and you’re done, forever. Lesson to Republicans: this is how you maintain iron discipline in the Party.

  42. Obama stopped all the money Bush-43 was giving to Africa to stop AIDS. Bush-43 gave more $$ than any other POTUS to Africa, and by promoting abstinence and common sense, reducted the rates of infection. Obama hates genuine Africans just as he hates African-Americans. Sacco called attention to AIDS in Africa, and Obama’s actions. That was her real sin.

  43. Sacco has 100 followers. So, her turned her in? Who will a signed copy of “Dreams of My Father” by Bill Ayers from OFA?

  45. John Nolte @ Breitbart’s Big Journalism nails this.

    http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2013/12/21/why-did-buzzfeed-and-co-target-justine-sacco-for-online-assassination

    “What the hell is the matter with some of you?

    On a late-December Friday night, an online lynch-mob destroyed the reputation, career, and life of a young woman and private citizen, and
    did so without the benefit of the doubt or hearing her side of the story.

    If you want to live in BuzzFeed’s “Watch what you say” world because it gives you a snarling sense of sanctimony, you’re not only ill but too stupid to know you are also a target.”

  46. The impression one gets is the father is so desperate to cling to his liberal credentials that he’ll sell his daughter out just to prove it. That’s some pretty ugly stuff.

Comments are closed.