"Bean dad" is one of the biggest self-own twitter threads I've seen in a while.(Up: Plus Ultra level of racism found; apology threadmarked)

[Squarehard]

Well, at least it was a fairly reflective apology, and addresses everything that had been brought up.

Shows he put some thought into it at the very least.

Only time will tell if this reflection has actually sunk in.

 

[element]

As far as apologies go, it did address everything.

The only thing that misses for me, was the "I'm a middle-aged, middle-class straight white male".

While he might fit into that demographic from an age and financial state, he is famous. He has a successful band. He has toured with even larger bands. He had a popular podcast. He ran for city council in Seattle. Hell he even was the "King" in Seattle's annual Seafair parade.

These aren't things that some random middle-class person gets to do.

Perhaps I just see it differently because I'm from Seattle. I know the circles he is in and 'middle class' is not how I would describe him. Intellectual hipster is more accurate. Something that a middle aged white man can get away with.

 

[Patriiick]

Off topic, but I'm reminded of how there was a band called Anal Cunt that made joke songs like "I Sent Concentration Camp Footage To America's Funniest Home Videos", "Hitler Was A Sensitive Man", "Dictators Are Cool", and "I Went Back In Time A Voted For Hitler". Some of their fans were legitimately shocked to find out that their main member performed in a white power band, Vaginal Jesus.

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I lurk/very infrequently post on a vinyl/music board with quite a few people who ended up putting on some Anal Cunt shows way back when. Some of the stories are fucking wild. The frontman was an absolute piece of shit(unsurprisingly).

 

[phonicjoy]

I think there is a certain amount of "contextless tweets being read uncharitably" going on. Like the back and forth he had with this @ohmeags person seems to have been a bit, as opposed to an exchange that reveals he had been a Neo-Nazi hiding in plain sight all along.

Going through the broad sweep of those tweets, though, the dude is 100% an asshole. I'm down to suppress the impulse to be all "holy shit, that sounds bad, adding it to the collage" for the occasional old, bad joke that rises to the surface contextlessly. The cavalierness with which he threw out slurs and made jokes punching down; his obvious resistance to changing his behavior in response to criticism; it all adds up such that the "omg posting contextless tweets" angle is just dumb.

I'm sorry to have to say it: Bean Dad...is toxic.

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Like the tweets I had seen with him explicitly using "jew" were 100% edgelord sarcasm towards people comparing wearing masks to being put on trains. That doesnt excuse using the N word. But you know the kind of edgelord 90's semi leftist that would troll nazi's by mocking them using those words, that's him. I haven't seen anything that couldn't be explained that way, even though it's assholish and dumb behavior. That doesnt mean it's not there, but you can't really tell from single tweets that are obviously responses.

Edit: I see that his apolofy explains better what I meant.

 

[hateradio]

I know when something is brought up from that era it will be batshit. What the hell was everyone doing back thing?

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Teens don't have access to Photoshop anymore :(

 

[Amalthea]

dang this bean weirdo is in a lot more places then i thought

i was listening to a JoCo album from 2011 and i got beaned

Click to shrink...

*BAM*

 

[Lightus]

Decent apology. Really sucks it took one of his dumb bits blowing up in his face for him to realize the "jokes" he made years ago were awful in multiple ways. I hope his hiatus is a long one.

 

[XaviConcept]

While I dont like his "jokes" I totally get where he's coming from, then again Im a white dude that doesnt have childhood trauma so its pretty easy for me to let this go, but thats my privilege doing me favors.

This aint a "you should lose your job" type situation, but hopefully he grows up and learns how to communicate better, as it seems his "brand" relies on that

 

[Messofanego]

Roderick has a lengthy apology up now on his personal site.

Text:

Click to shrink...

Who taught this idiot to be an "ally" by using slurs willy nilly? Ironic Nazism is still Nazism. He needs to go back to ally school and learn to shut the fuck up.

"As for the many racist, anti-Semitic, hurtful and slur-filled tweets from my early days on Twitter I can say only this: all of those tweets were intended to be ironic, sarcastic. I thought then that being an ally meant taking the slurs of the oppressors and flipping them to mock racism, sexism, homophobia, and bigotry. I am humiliated by my incredibly insensitive use of the language of sexual assault in casual banter. It was a lazy and damaging ideology, that I continued to believe long past the point I should've known better that because I was a hipster intellectual from a diverse community it was ok for me to joke and deploy slurs in that context. It was not. I realized, sometime in the early part of the decade, helped by real-life friends and Twitter friends too, that my status as a straight white male didn't permit me to "repurpose" those slurs as people from disenfranchised communities might do. They were injurious regardless of my intent, because the words themselves have power and because actual violence is often prefaced by people saying, "I'm not racist, but…"

That was wrong, so I stopped.

Yesterday those old tweets resurfaced and hurt a lot of people anew. People who are close to me, people in my community who couldn't square those words with the person they know me to be. And people who don't know me, going about their business yesterday, had to see those awful slurs and feel the hurt those words inspire. They had to suffer this asshole #BeanDad casually demeaning them and their friends. I deeply regret having ever used those words. I do not want to spread more hate in the world. I want the opposite."

 

[MetatronM]

Roderick has a lengthy apology up now on his personal site.

Text:

Click to shrink...

If this was spoken out loud you would say this guy absolutely loves to hear himself talk.

 

[namtrahj]

I think Gen Xers were being Gen X. White ignorance was profound. I missed being an X by like a year, but while I watched most of the angst from the standpoint of a little brother (metaphorically), I was definitely as preoccupied with my suburban teenage nihilism as any of them. In the early days of the internet, we were still lightyears away from being as connected and aware of the sheer breadth of the brutal realities of the world as we are now.

All that to say, most white teens and young adults thought racism was over. The Cosby Show and Fresh Price were on TV, after all. The idea of modern day Nazis was beyond absurd - which is why people were cool making Hitler jokes, and Prince Harry wore that regrettable Halloween costume, and more recently, the Little Britain guys thought it was okay for white comics to portray stereotypical caricatures of People of Colour. We all thought that ironic racism could never be possibly be mistaken for the real thing. Because racism was the province of crazy skinheads throwing bricks through windows; not a tangible, systemic, pervasive issue that ignorant, throwaway, insensitive comedy actively contributes to.

And while things changed, the dissemination of knowledge about the reality of the world, and more importantly, development of empathy amongst Gen X progressives, was s l o w. There was a huge chunk of time when Gen X and early Millennial whites were posting cynical and ironic and nihilistic shit on Twitter, but the concept of white privilege wasn't part of our vocabulary. I'm relieved I was never into social media, because I would absolutely have regrettable, heartless, ignorant, phobic, racist shit on there that would haunt me in this day and age, not just because people would drag me for the person I used to be, but because I'd feel beyond ashamed that I'd put so much ignorant shit out into the world for the sake of getting a laugh. The transphobic ending of Ace Ventura is one of the most on-point examples of this. The antisemitic shit in South Park is another.

I might be way off base, I haven't read anything or studied this, but that's how I remember/interpret the phenomenon, as a kid who grew up in the 90s and was part of the problem.

Click to shrink...

I am lateish Gen X and I think this post is very accurate.

 

[Valiant]

I'm just an uncle to my niece but I put her threw the ringer sometimes so she can learn a lesson. If its just a video game I usually just let her tackle it on her own after I have shown her a thing or two.

If it's online learning (pandemic) or trying to figure out an actual tool or something we are working on I sit and work it out with her. I think it's a little unfair to make it take so long, you have to give people bread crumbs sometimes so 6 hours is a bit much.

The apology seems heartfelt and true but actions always speak louder than words.

Always.

 

[Khanimus]

Roderick has a lengthy apology up now on his personal site.

Text:

Click to shrink...

*jerkoff motion*

Fuck outta here

 

[Team_Feisar]

I think Gen Xers were being Gen X. White ignorance was profound. I missed being an X by like a year, but while I watched most of the angst from the standpoint of a little brother (metaphorically), I was definitely as preoccupied with my suburban teenage nihilism as any of them. In the early days of the internet, we were still lightyears away from being as connected and aware of the sheer breadth of the brutal realities of the world as we are now.

All that to say, most white teens and young adults thought racism was over. The Cosby Show and Fresh Price were on TV, after all. The idea of modern day Nazis was beyond absurd - which is why people were cool making Hitler jokes, and Prince Harry wore that regrettable Halloween costume, and more recently, the Little Britain guys thought it was okay for white comics to portray stereotypical caricatures of People of Colour. We all thought that ironic racism could never be possibly be mistaken for the real thing. Because racism was the province of crazy skinheads throwing bricks through windows; not a tangible, systemic, pervasive issue that ignorant, throwaway, insensitive comedy actively contributes to.

And while things changed, the dissemination of knowledge about the reality of the world, and more importantly, development of empathy amongst Gen X progressives, was s l o w. There was a huge chunk of time when Gen X and early Millennial whites were posting cynical and ironic and nihilistic shit on Twitter, but the concept of white privilege wasn't part of our vocabulary. I'm relieved I was never into social media, because I would absolutely have regrettable, heartless, ignorant, phobic, racist shit on there that would haunt me in this day and age, not just because people would drag me for the person I used to be, but because I'd feel beyond ashamed that I'd put so much ignorant shit out into the world for the sake of getting a laugh. The transphobic ending of Ace Ventura is one of the most on-point examples of this. The antisemitic shit in South Park is another.

I might be way off base, I haven't read anything or studied this, but that's how I remember/interpret the phenomenon, as a kid who grew up in the 90s and was part of the problem.

Click to shrink...

1990 Millennial here and in my personal experience, this hits it on the head. I (and my humor) have changed massively in the last 10 or so years regarding social issues and sensitivity, simply because I am much more exposed now to perspectives outside of my white/straight/upper-middle class bubble and my own privilege.

I am really glad I was not active on Social Media then, even though I never tried to be a sarcastic asshole on purpose.

 

[Razmos]

Bigotry but ironically
yeah okay

Hes just a pathetic edgy old prick who loves the smell of his own farts and thinks he's above criticism

 

[Danstanster]

Decent apology. Really sucks it took one of his dumb bits blowing up in his face for him to realize the "jokes" he made years ago were awful in multiple ways. I hope his hiatus is a long one.

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Yeah in the wording it's not clear but I surmised that he meant "I've already learned that lesson and stopped" in terms of ironic epithets. You either get called out for your shitty tweets or you have a reason great enough to purge them in advance.

I've been at companies prior to announcements and press releases where higher ups have social media teams supposedly secretly comb their accounts and flag anything possibly damning. And once a boss had received one laughed at it, said it's fine, and it effectively torched the entire company.

 

[C J P]

I don't care about this thing at all but "I woke up yesterday to find I had become #BeanDad" is a remarkable sentence. Worthy of Kafka

 

[blame space]

therapist: bean dad is not real, bean dad cannot hurt you.

bean dad:

 

[Ruisu]

lol, this apology is so weird, feels more like a attempt at justification. None of those sounded like jokes at all, get out of here with that bullshit, I don't believe a word of it. Should probably keep that account deleted.

 

[Razmos]

If he recognised that his words were harmful years ago and stopped why didn't he go back and delete those comments if he was aware of them?

 

[Rendering...]

Seems like a relatively thoughtful apology to me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Hopefully he's genuine and the experience really does shape his attitude and behavior in the future.

If he recognised that his words were harmful years ago and stopped why didn't he go back and delete those comments if he was aware of them?

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I mean one possibility is that, like many people, he's not proactive about scrubbing the detritus of his past. It's not hard to see why people leave up old posts on social media. It's like clutter you don't even think about.

Not saying what he did or didn't do was correct, but I don't find it difficult to understand how those ugly posts were still on his feed.

 

[Joe Shlabotnik]

I think Gen Xers were being Gen X. White ignorance was profound. I missed being an X by like a year, but while I watched most of the angst from the standpoint of a little brother (metaphorically), I was definitely as preoccupied with my suburban teenage nihilism as any of them. In the early days of the internet, we were still lightyears away from being as connected and aware of the sheer breadth of the brutal realities of the world as we are now.

All that to say, most white teens and young adults thought racism was over. The Cosby Show and Fresh Price were on TV, after all. The idea of modern day Nazis was beyond absurd - which is why people were cool making Hitler jokes, and Prince Harry wore that regrettable Halloween costume, and more recently, the Little Britain guys thought it was okay for white comics to portray stereotypical caricatures of People of Colour. We all thought that ironic racism could never be possibly be mistaken for the real thing. Because racism was the province of crazy skinheads throwing bricks through windows; not a tangible, systemic, pervasive issue that ignorant, throwaway, insensitive comedy actively contributes to.

And while things changed, the dissemination of knowledge about the reality of the world, and more importantly, development of empathy amongst Gen X progressives, was s l o w. There was a huge chunk of time when Gen X and early Millennial whites were posting cynical and ironic and nihilistic shit on Twitter, but the concept of white privilege wasn't part of our vocabulary. I'm relieved I was never into social media, because I would absolutely have regrettable, heartless, ignorant, phobic, racist shit on there that would haunt me in this day and age, not just because people would drag me for the person I used to be, but because I'd feel beyond ashamed that I'd put so much ignorant shit out into the world for the sake of getting a laugh. The transphobic ending of Ace Ventura is one of the most on-point examples of this. The antisemitic shit in South Park is another.

I might be way off base, I haven't read anything or studied this, but that's how I remember/interpret the phenomenon, as a kid who grew up in the 90s and was part of the problem.

Click to shrink...

I am lateish Gen X and I think this post is very accurate.

Click to shrink...

Hooo boy, is it ever.

 

[Rendering...]

I think Gen Xers were being Gen X. White ignorance was profound. I missed being an X by like a year, but while I watched most of the angst from the standpoint of a little brother (metaphorically), I was definitely as preoccupied with my suburban teenage nihilism as any of them. In the early days of the internet, we were still lightyears away from being as connected and aware of the sheer breadth of the brutal realities of the world as we are now.

All that to say, most white teens and young adults thought racism was over. The Cosby Show and Fresh Price were on TV, after all. The idea of modern day Nazis was beyond absurd - which is why people were cool making Hitler jokes, and Prince Harry wore that regrettable Halloween costume, and more recently, the Little Britain guys thought it was okay for white comics to portray stereotypical caricatures of People of Colour. We all thought that ironic racism could never be possibly be mistaken for the real thing. Because racism was the province of crazy skinheads throwing bricks through windows; not a tangible, systemic, pervasive issue that ignorant, throwaway, insensitive comedy actively contributes to.

And while things changed, the dissemination of knowledge about the reality of the world, and more importantly, development of empathy amongst Gen X progressives, was s l o w. There was a huge chunk of time when Gen X and early Millennial whites were posting cynical and ironic and nihilistic shit on Twitter, but the concept of white privilege wasn't part of our vocabulary. I'm relieved I was never into social media, because I would absolutely have regrettable, heartless, ignorant, phobic, racist shit on there that would haunt me in this day and age, not just because people would drag me for the person I used to be, but because I'd feel beyond ashamed that I'd put so much ignorant shit out into the world for the sake of getting a laugh. The transphobic ending of Ace Ventura is one of the most on-point examples of this. The antisemitic shit in South Park is another.

I might be way off base, I haven't read anything or studied this, but that's how I remember/interpret the phenomenon, as a kid who grew up in the 90s and was part of the problem.

Click to shrink...

Damn, yeah. This really captures the attitude of the 90s.

 

[krazen]

I think Gen Xers were being Gen X. White ignorance was profound. I missed being an X by like a year, but while I watched most of the angst from the standpoint of a little brother (metaphorically), I was definitely as preoccupied with my suburban teenage nihilism as any of them. In the early days of the internet, we were still lightyears away from being as connected and aware of the sheer breadth of the brutal realities of the world as we are now.

All that to say, most white teens and young adults thought racism was over. The Cosby Show and Fresh Price were on TV, after all. The idea of modern day Nazis was beyond absurd - which is why people were cool making Hitler jokes, and Prince Harry wore that regrettable Halloween costume, and more recently, the Little Britain guys thought it was okay for white comics to portray stereotypical caricatures of People of Colour. We all thought that ironic racism could never be possibly be mistaken for the real thing. Because racism was the province of crazy skinheads throwing bricks through windows; not a tangible, systemic, pervasive issue that ignorant, throwaway, insensitive comedy actively contributes to.

And while things changed, the dissemination of knowledge about the reality of the world, and more importantly, development of empathy amongst Gen X progressives, was s l o w. There was a huge chunk of time when Gen X and early Millennial whites were posting cynical and ironic and nihilistic shit on Twitter, but the concept of white privilege wasn't part of our vocabulary. I'm relieved I was never into social media, because I would absolutely have regrettable, heartless, ignorant, phobic, racist shit on there that would haunt me in this day and age, not just because people would drag me for the person I used to be, but because I'd feel beyond ashamed that I'd put so much ignorant shit out into the world for the sake of getting a laugh. The transphobic ending of Ace Ventura is one of the most on-point examples of this. The antisemitic shit in South Park is another.

I might be way off base, I haven't read anything or studied this, but that's how I remember/interpret the phenomenon, as a kid who grew up in the 90s and was part of the problem.

Click to shrink...

Damn, one and done. Great post

 

[Shaneus]

 

[Deleted member 19844]

I think Gen Xers were being Gen X. White ignorance was profound. I missed being an X by like a year, but while I watched most of the angst from the standpoint of a little brother (metaphorically), I was definitely as preoccupied with my suburban teenage nihilism as any of them. In the early days of the internet, we were still lightyears away from being as connected and aware of the sheer breadth of the brutal realities of the world as we are now.

All that to say, most white teens and young adults thought racism was over. The Cosby Show and Fresh Price were on TV, after all. The idea of modern day Nazis was beyond absurd - which is why people were cool making Hitler jokes, and Prince Harry wore that regrettable Halloween costume, and more recently, the Little Britain guys thought it was okay for white comics to portray stereotypical caricatures of People of Colour. We all thought that ironic racism could never be possibly be mistaken for the real thing. Because racism was the province of crazy skinheads throwing bricks through windows; not a tangible, systemic, pervasive issue that ignorant, throwaway, insensitive comedy actively contributes to.

And while things changed, the dissemination of knowledge about the reality of the world, and more importantly, development of empathy amongst Gen X progressives, was s l o w. There was a huge chunk of time when Gen X and early Millennial whites were posting cynical and ironic and nihilistic shit on Twitter, but the concept of white privilege wasn't part of our vocabulary. I'm relieved I was never into social media, because I would absolutely have regrettable, heartless, ignorant, phobic, racist shit on there that would haunt me in this day and age, not just because people would drag me for the person I used to be, but because I'd feel beyond ashamed that I'd put so much ignorant shit out into the world for the sake of getting a laugh. The transphobic ending of Ace Ventura is one of the most on-point examples of this. The antisemitic shit in South Park is another.

I might be way off base, I haven't read anything or studied this, but that's how I remember/interpret the phenomenon, as a kid who grew up in the 90s and was part of the problem.

Click to shrink...

This is completely spot on. So well articulated.

 

[My Blue Heaven]

people make fun of millenials for being me-obsessed but gen xers are actually some of the most egocentric self-involved people imaginable outside of actual boomers and basically squandered their chance at making real change at what could be considered the most opportune time to do so in america. they instead wasted everyone's time with masturbatory nihilism and misanthropy

bean dad being a gen xer totally informs his behavior and his way of acting namely the "ironic" racism

 

[Deleted member 19844]

people make fun of millenials for being me-obsessed but gen xers are actually some of the most egocentric self-involved people imaginable outside of actual boomers and basically squandered their chance at making real change at what could be considered the most opportune time to do so in america. they instead wasted everyone's time with masturbatory nihilism and misanthropy

bean dad being a gen xer totally informs his behavior and his way of acting namely the "ironic" racism

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Every generation is me-obsessed and selfish. It just manifests in different ways.

 

[My Blue Heaven]

Every generation is me-obsessed and selfish. It just manifests in different ways.

Click to shrink...

i would make the argument that millenials did more to advance stagnant dialogue on social issues than the gen xers ever did which outweighs any perceived selfish behavior

gen xers seemed to be happy to suffer the status quo while also demonstrating their very cool and hip public suffering

 

[Finale Fireworker]

I think Gen Xers were being Gen X. White ignorance was profound. I missed being an X by like a year, but while I watched most of the angst from the standpoint of a little brother (metaphorically), I was definitely as preoccupied with my suburban teenage nihilism as any of them. In the early days of the internet, we were still lightyears away from being as connected and aware of the sheer breadth of the brutal realities of the world as we are now.

All that to say, most white teens and young adults thought racism was over. The Cosby Show and Fresh Price were on TV, after all. The idea of modern day Nazis was beyond absurd - which is why people were cool making Hitler jokes, and Prince Harry wore that regrettable Halloween costume, and more recently, the Little Britain guys thought it was okay for white comics to portray stereotypical caricatures of People of Colour. We all thought that ironic racism could never be possibly be mistaken for the real thing. Because racism was the province of crazy skinheads throwing bricks through windows; not a tangible, systemic, pervasive issue that ignorant, throwaway, insensitive comedy actively contributes to.

And while things changed, the dissemination of knowledge about the reality of the world, and more importantly, development of empathy amongst Gen X progressives, was s l o w. There was a huge chunk of time when Gen X and early Millennial whites were posting cynical and ironic and nihilistic shit on Twitter, but the concept of white privilege wasn't part of our vocabulary. I'm relieved I was never into social media, because I would absolutely have regrettable, heartless, ignorant, phobic, racist shit on there that would haunt me in this day and age, not just because people would drag me for the person I used to be, but because I'd feel beyond ashamed that I'd put so much ignorant shit out into the world for the sake of getting a laugh. The transphobic ending of Ace Ventura is one of the most on-point examples of this. The antisemitic shit in South Park is another.

I might be way off base, I haven't read anything or studied this, but that's how I remember/interpret the phenomenon, as a kid who grew up in the 90s and was part of the problem.

Click to shrink...

I think this is really solid and accurate. It is something difficult to look back on.

This is a huge part of why South Park was seen as ultra progressive at its early peak as well, something that is utterly incomprehensible to consider with retrospect. The white mainstream energy at the time was a different kind of delusional than it is today. On one hand, it shows how far we've come that all these X-era trappings have been largely dissolved and we look back on them with disgust and horror - something many of its participants even do. But on the other hand, that behavior is a major contributor to the unabashed and unashamed flavor bigotry that reigns in America today. Everyone who was "just kidding" might have stopped, but all the people who weren't have only gotten louder.

It's not my place to forgive Bean Dad, but I can believe he's at least being honest. It's clear however that his 2000s do-no-wrong swagger never left him since it's the same "obviously everyone knows I'm kidding!!" energy that got him into this pathetic situation this week.

 

[My Blue Heaven]

bean dad should re-ignite the dialogue about scumbag gen x old men who continue to advance bitter and regressive dialogues that are basically as bad and harmful as any diet racist boomer

 

[JoJo'sDentCo]

While I dont like his "jokes" I totally get where he's coming from, then again Im a white dude that doesnt have childhood trauma so its pretty easy for me to let this go, but thats my privilege doing me favors.

This aint a "you should lose your job" type situation, but hopefully he grows up and learns how to communicate better, as it seems his "brand" relies on that

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Read all of those "joke" tweets again. This is absolutely positively a "you should lose your job" situation. Fuck this guy! He was a grown man when he said those things. Those kind of joke tweets, deep down, perpetuate horrible racist ideology and get people hurt.

 

[krazen]

i would make the argument that millenials did more to advance stagnant dialogue on social issues than the gen xers ever did which outweighs any perceived selfish behavior

gen xers seemed to be happy to suffer the status quo while also demonstrating their very cool and hip public suffering

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Remains to be seen. I would argue thar millennials had no choice...not as if capitalism falling apart right when they get into the job market doesn't make you start thinking from the system "sucks" (X'ers) to its actively working against you.

And even ten years ago the rumbles were more middle class discontent (Masters degrees and I work at Starbucks!) than social justice on a wider scale. Even now you can make the argument its external factors that are helping with this reckoning; lets see what happens post covid and pandemic lockdown. We've adopted the language, but societal changes remain to be seen. (which is why I dont have hope for the next generation also, yeah...u guys turned out and tussled with cops and instagrammed your blm graffiti but you didn't vote)

 

[Deleted member 19844]

i would make the argument that millenials did more to advance stagnant dialogue on social issues than the gen xers ever did which outweighs any perceived selfish behavior

gen xers seemed to be happy to suffer the status quo while also demonstrating their very cool and hip public suffering

Click to shrink...

Gen Xers advanced it far beyond the boomers that came before them, and millennials have taken it from there via a far more connected world network. I don't think it needs to be a competition between generations.

 

[KAMI-SAMA]

Decent apology. I'll chop it up to him fucking up like we all do sometimes but atleast he seems to recognize it. I'm willing to forgive because he atleast isn't a politician. NOW those people can fuck off.

 

[Lobster Roll]

The important lesson here is that if you're going to post racist shit on Twitter, keep it up forever unless you're called out on it. At which point, self-label yourself as an "ally". Only own up to something if you're under public scrutiny and spin it so that it's a net positive for yourself.

 

[Razmos]

Decent apology. I'll chop it up to him fucking up like we all do sometimes but atleast he seems to recognize it. I'm willing to forgive because he atleast isn't a politician. NOW those people can fuck off.

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I too have posted horrific racist, xenophobic and homophobic stuff online with no provocation for the sake of "humour" and only recognised it once it gets uncovered. Very relatable, we've all done it.

The important lesson here is that if you're going to post racist shit on Twitter, keep it up forever unless you're called out on it. At which point, self-label yourself as an "ally". Only own up to something if you're under public scrutiny and spin it so that it's a net positive for yourself.

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A real learning moment

 

[Deleted member 15737]

.

 

[Lua]

My parents were some of these people. They would bully me to learn stuff and even threw me alone in a city to feed for myself once i got in college. They thought they were being good parents and teaching me a lesson.

I dont see in years, and will never again. I hope they need me someday just so i can deny help the way they did. Dont be assholes to your kids because they grow up.

 

[JohnsonUT]

I think Gen Xers were being Gen X. White ignorance was profound. I missed being an X by like a year, but while I watched most of the angst from the standpoint of a little brother (metaphorically), I was definitely as preoccupied with my suburban teenage nihilism as any of them. In the early days of the internet, we were still lightyears away from being as connected and aware of the sheer breadth of the brutal realities of the world as we are now.

All that to say, most white teens and young adults thought racism was over. The Cosby Show and Fresh Price were on TV, after all. The idea of modern day Nazis was beyond absurd - which is why people were cool making Hitler jokes, and Prince Harry wore that regrettable Halloween costume, and more recently, the Little Britain guys thought it was okay for white comics to portray stereotypical caricatures of People of Colour. We all thought that ironic racism could never be possibly be mistaken for the real thing. Because racism was the province of crazy skinheads throwing bricks through windows; not a tangible, systemic, pervasive issue that ignorant, throwaway, insensitive comedy actively contributes to.

And while things changed, the dissemination of knowledge about the reality of the world, and more importantly, development of empathy amongst Gen X progressives, was s l o w. There was a huge chunk of time when Gen X and early Millennial whites were posting cynical and ironic and nihilistic shit on Twitter, but the concept of white privilege wasn't part of our vocabulary. I'm relieved I was never into social media, because I would absolutely have regrettable, heartless, ignorant, phobic, racist shit on there that would haunt me in this day and age, not just because people would drag me for the person I used to be, but because I'd feel beyond ashamed that I'd put so much ignorant shit out into the world for the sake of getting a laugh. The transphobic ending of Ace Ventura is one of the most on-point examples of this. The antisemitic shit in South Park is another.

I might be way off base, I haven't read anything or studied this, but that's how I remember/interpret the phenomenon, as a kid who grew up in the 90s and was part of the problem.

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This is a great post and something I have been reflecting on the past 10 years. There was something about growing up in the 90s that gave middle class kids a false sense of the world. Between the soaring economy that had not yet fully experienced the results of globalism and deregulation, media that "felt" representative of all cultures, and a us military that appeared to be dormant, we came of age in a Disney version of reality.

 

[TheSkullPrince]

Hopefully the guy actually learns from this and didn't say just what people want to hear in an apology.

As far as an apology goes, it's one of the better ones, but again it's meaningless if he doesn't learn from this.

 

[crienne]

Decent apology. I'll chop it up to him fucking up like we all do sometimes but atleast he seems to recognize it. I'm willing to forgive because he atleast isn't a politician. NOW those people can fuck off.

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Well he DID run for a political office in Seattle.

 

[purseowner]

Very well constructed apology. By which I mean I feel it's somewhat calculated and sociopathic and it's hard to read him as sincere. His reflections on the racism especially is something of a non-apology.

 

[jimtothehum]

Hooo boy, is it ever.

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I am on the young end of Gen X and it rings true to me as well. A lot of us that grew up in that generation felt that the edgier the humor, the better. Cards Against Humanity and Howard Stern's popularity (two things I enjoy) comes from the Gen-X mindset of pushing boundaries of what is acceptable to say. We were reacting to the draconian censorship going on in the US. (Look into the response after the Janet Jackson nipple slip or listen to Carlin and other comedians rip on it for examples) Sometimes the boundary pushing was good, but much of the time it was absent-minded "shock for shock sakes" humor and it never crossed anyone's mind that it could be hurtful towards others. It's only now that idiots like us are starting to realize that you need to be smarter than that and you must really consider your words and understand the hurt they can cause.

 

[Deleted member 5359]

Decent apology. I'll chop it up to him fucking up like we all do sometimes but atleast he seems to recognize it. I'm willing to forgive because he atleast isn't a politician. NOW those people can fuck off.

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lol

 

[JohnsonUT]

I am on the young end of Gen X and it rings true to me as well. A lot of us that grew up in that generation felt that the edgier the humor, the better. Cards Against Humanity and Howard Stern's popularity (two things I enjoy) comes from the Gen-X mindset of pushing boundaries of what is acceptable to say. We were reacting to the draconian censorship going on in the US. (Look into the response after the Janet Jackson nipple slip or listen to Carlin and other comedians rip on it for examples) Sometimes the boundary pushing was good, but much of the time it was absent-minded "shock for shock sakes" humor and it never crossed anyone's mind that it could be hurtful towards others. It's only now that idiots like us are starting to realize that you need to be smarter than that and you must really consider your words and understand the hurt they can cause.

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Cards against humanity alone is probably a topic worthy of its own thread. I would expect at least a dozen bans

 

[Deleted member 7082]

I am on the young end of Gen X and it rings true to me as well. A lot of us that grew up in that generation felt that the edgier the humor, the better. Cards Against Humanity and Howard Stern's popularity (two things I enjoy) comes from the Gen-X mindset of pushing boundaries of what is acceptable to say. We were reacting to the draconian censorship going on in the US. (Look into the response after the Janet Jackson nipple slip or listen to Carlin and other comedians rip on it for examples) Sometimes the boundary pushing was good, but much of the time it was absent-minded "shock for shock sakes" humor and it never crossed anyone's mind that it could be hurtful towards others. It's only now that idiots like us are starting to realize that you need to be smarter than that and you must really consider your words and understand the hurt they can cause.

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Yep. This also explains why 4chan exploded in popularity back then.

 

[jimtothehum]

Cards against humanity alone is probably a topic worthy of its own thread. I would expect at least a dozen bans

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Agreed. I own a couple decks myself that I have not played in a long time. There is a lot to unpack there, but thinking back on the craze, there are some problematic issues that need to be discussed.

 

[jimtothehum]

Yep. This also explains why 4chan exploded in popularity back then.

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COMPLETELY.

 

[theme park joe]

The apology seems genuine and thoughtful but it's not my place to accept it. The real proof will be in future actions.