A conservative columnist's long-ago Jewish jokes. A Bills quarterback's young racism. An All-Star reliever's vile teenage drivel. Can we, as journalists, use old social media posts to judge adults?
Counterpoint about Marly Rivera: she utters one of those MAGIC words that is always gonna get a reaction - five feet from where Aaron Judge is signing autographs for some kids. Just totally inappropriate and stupid. And the fact that woman to whom she said it happens to be married to a prominent MLB executive? OOPS. I'm all for free speech and maybe Rivera wasn't wrong, but sometimes actions have consequences. Say the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time....
Regarding the stuff people tweet, or write in yearbooks, at 17: Of course you'd hope that people grow and change and mature between 17 and ... well, even like 23. But there's a lot of confusion because I think young people don't understand the difference between nervous laughter and humor.
Be honest: You knew that was a rude thing to write in that girl's yearbook, and *that's why you wrote it.* You wanted to impress on her that you'd tease her even if she didn't want to be teased, just for the sake of being transgressive.
So I can give a pass to you, and everyone else in your column, for acting like children when you were still children -- so long as you acknowledge that some of us knew where the lines were at that age, and so did you.
As a complete idiot when I was 17 and probably when I was 21 to be honest these past tweet controversies always resonate. Thank God the internet wasn't a thing in my teenage years especially brand new to me. That's not why I'm here though. Jeff eloquently addresses an issue Jon Ronson covers more thoroughly in his book So You've Been Publicly Shamed. It's a very interesting book I encourage anyone who found Jeff's piece interesting to read. Public shaming isn't new but it's so much more well public now than ever before.
Counterpoint about Marly Rivera: she utters one of those MAGIC words that is always gonna get a reaction - five feet from where Aaron Judge is signing autographs for some kids. Just totally inappropriate and stupid. And the fact that woman to whom she said it happens to be married to a prominent MLB executive? OOPS. I'm all for free speech and maybe Rivera wasn't wrong, but sometimes actions have consequences. Say the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time....
Regarding the stuff people tweet, or write in yearbooks, at 17: Of course you'd hope that people grow and change and mature between 17 and ... well, even like 23. But there's a lot of confusion because I think young people don't understand the difference between nervous laughter and humor.
Be honest: You knew that was a rude thing to write in that girl's yearbook, and *that's why you wrote it.* You wanted to impress on her that you'd tease her even if she didn't want to be teased, just for the sake of being transgressive.
So I can give a pass to you, and everyone else in your column, for acting like children when you were still children -- so long as you acknowledge that some of us knew where the lines were at that age, and so did you.
As a complete idiot when I was 17 and probably when I was 21 to be honest these past tweet controversies always resonate. Thank God the internet wasn't a thing in my teenage years especially brand new to me. That's not why I'm here though. Jeff eloquently addresses an issue Jon Ronson covers more thoroughly in his book So You've Been Publicly Shamed. It's a very interesting book I encourage anyone who found Jeff's piece interesting to read. Public shaming isn't new but it's so much more well public now than ever before.