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In July, Disney fired Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn. Cause for termination: a series of offensive tweets, in most cases about a decade old, that were circulated by a right-wing media personality. Gunn’s tweets, many of which were about molestation or pedophilia, were indefensible. But the method in which they were dug up, as well as the people who circulated them — bad-faith conspiracy theorists who used old jokes made in poor taste to brand Gunn as a pedophile — are part of a larger trend in which problematic or out-of-context tweets are being ripped from the past to ruin their author in the present.
Trial by online fire isn’t new. Milkshake Duck, a term coined by Twitter user @pixelatedboat in 2016, gave a name to a cultural internet phenomenon. It goes like this: someone gains online fame for something innocuous, only for it to come out shortly after that the person holds repugnant or problematic views. After a presidential election debate in 2016, for example, the internet became obsessed with a sweater-clad man named Ken Bone. His reign as a viral darling quickly came to an end after people discovered that his Reddit history included comments about stolen celebrity nudes and the “justified” killing of Trayvon Martin.
In 2018, however, the concept of Milkshake Ducking became far more convoluted. Now it’s not just about present problematic views, but holding people responsible for comments they’ve made previously, in some cases years ago. Call it Gunn’s Law: everyone has a past.
[...] Tweet deletion is no longer a matter of curation, but a necessity. Our lives are lived online more each year. We shouldn’t excuse people who spout racist, misogynist, damaging views online in present day. But as we confront our younger, more problematic past selves preserved online, the line between personal growth and punishment deserves breathing room. Until we can accept that, deleting tweets is all we have.
[This concept goes way back in time. Let the one among you who has no sin, cast the first stone. People who live in glass houses should not throw stones. Is it just that things are more visible, findable and more easily promulgated, now? --Ed.]
(Score: 0, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday December 28 2018, @05:10AM (6 children)
The war against political incorrectness is a war against honesty, and facts are often politically-incorrect. And the people in charge of facts and political correctness are the same folks in charge of flooding countries with scum to lower wages for those on the bottom, and increase bonuses for those on the top. I'm not the only person in America who notices that. That's why Trump won, and Israel lost.
(Score: -1, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 28 2018, @05:23AM (2 children)
RIGHT ON.
You're one of the few here who has the courage to speak the truth.
The rest are just a bunch of SJW pussies who never had an original thought in their entire worthless meaningless lives.
(Score: 5, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 28 2018, @05:56AM
I've seen this type of post weekly, sometimes daily, here on SN. Ever had an original thought?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 28 2018, @06:15PM
Actually "SJW" types have historically much more original views than the regressives that want to punish anything different.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 28 2018, @12:08PM (1 child)
What ever happened to that good old Republican value of personal responsibility and accountability? If you said it, own up to it and take your punishment. What? Do don't think there should be consequences for things you say? Well, I guess you should go back to the first sentence of this comment.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 28 2018, @04:34PM
You can push someone only so far before they pick up the bat you are beating them with and give you a good beat down with it. That is what you are seeing. You are seeing what you want to mock picking up your mocking tools and mocking YOU with it. Because frankly they ignored you long enough. Well you now have their attention. You do not seem to care for it. Perhaps you should take the advice you so glibly handed out and take on some responsibility and accountability?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 28 2018, @05:16PM
Way too stupid and way too typical.