Justine Sacco's Going To Africa

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“The furor over Sacco’s tweet had become not just an ideological crusade against her perceived bigotry but also a form of entertainment. Her complete ignorance of her predicament for those 11 hours lent the episode both dramatic irony and a pleasing narrative arc” (Ronson 3). Social media has taken over the hearts and minds of nearly all mankind and is changing the world every second of the day. What was meant to provide distant friends and relatives a platform for communication has now turned into a tool used for extreme cyberbullying and hazing. Jon Ronson posted an article illustrating just that. He tells the story of Justine Sacco, a woman who experienced the full wrath of social media after posting a tweet that said, “‘Going to Africa. …show more content…

Her infamous tweet, “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white,” went viral within a few hours of posting because of “trending,” (Ronson 1-2) What was originally meant to promote breaking news, exciting events, etc., trending has become a broadcaster for controversial people and posts. Within hours of posting her “joke,” Sacco was the “No. 1 worldwide trend…,” symbolizing the beginning of her demise (Ronson 2). Once the hashtag, #HasJustineLandedYet, formed, people worldwide were able to see and respond to her tweet by posting insults, promoting her termination from her job, and even threatening her life (Ronson 3). In all of the chaos, people tweeted insults that were far worse than hers, and no one cared. The mob mentality ruined Sacco’s life in a matter of hours as it has for countless others on social …show more content…

People have become more brave in posting offensive comments and harshly critiquing the beliefs of others as long as others do the same. In response to Sacco’s tweet, people posted repulsive insults and death threats about her, all from comfort of behind a screen. Most of the people who replied to Justine’s comment would never confront Sacco face to face much less comment on the post if it had not been for the thousands of others who did. Social media has given people the opportunity to ruin people’s life from the comfort of their home and face no guilt, making it one of the most powerful weapons in the

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