To Err is Human; To Judge is Ego
To err is human. This is a fundamental truth of human nature. This fact is also the folly of mankind. It was once thought that our mistakes only affected ourselves and those in immediate junction to us, but as time progresses and our world shrinks through the advent of our global communication network we are witnessing how our errs unfairly affect each other and ourselves on a much larger and broader scale. A few days ago a video popped up in my news feed on Facebook. An African-American woman was recorded accosting a white male with dreads. As of Friday, the barely one-minute long video has reached an astounding 3 million hits while hundreds of comments ranging from the abhorrently racist to the civil and engaging had been made.
In the video viewers watch as the person being accosted attempts to walk away while this woman berates him and grabs him insisting his hair choice is cultural appropriation that takes from her culture. She ostensibly bully’s him as he attempts to walk away and the video ends with her asking the recorder why he is taping the situation to which he replies “for everyone’s safety.” Almost on cue the woman grabs at the camera and the video ends.
This video has triggered multiple emotions within me as it has for most of the viewers who have watched it. Everyone with a keyboard seems to have expressed an opinion over it on some platform of social media. Initially, I was stunned and disgusted at the woman’s actions as her harassment seemed completely unwarranted. The hot topic foaming on the lips of many in the past few years online has been “cultural appropriation” and “micro aggression” and this video exemplified how this woman obviously frequented these words in her daily conversations. Her incessant desire to shame this white male in dreads felt overindulgent and unjustified considering the history of dreadlocks in themselves has never limited itself to one culture or group of people.
While her own ignorance unfortunately sparked a regrettable situation, there are always two sides to every story. Let us all never forget that. Quite soon after the video spilled out from under social media shares into national headline news tag-lines, tweets and screen shots circulated absolving the woman’s actions instead pointing the finger at the deadlocked man himself for supposedly calling her a “bitch” and putting his hands on her before the filming began. This essential bit of information missing from the story has resulted in the scale of blame once again left unbalanced on the side of the minority, a Black female.
This part of the story hasn’t made headlines. A quick google search of the word “dreadlocks” still points the finger at the woman while the many who have watched the video and expressed their opinions will now keep this woman’s face and actions at fault. Considering the shelf life of internet videos and our incessant desires to meme and criticize everything, those few moments of her life in which she tried to engage in a conversation about something she found offensive will undoubtedly affect for her some time to come. Immediately following the video’s release and subsequent traction many thought she was a San Francisco State University employee. People angrily called for her resignation and spit venomous words from behind computer screens at her ultimately condemning anyone else who feels some kind of way about white culture and dreads.
Though it was unearthed that she was a student the attacks continued as did calls for retribution while the male’s reported instigating actions were largely ignored. Now, the commentors of the internet have become judge, jury, and executioner in this woman’s life and her few moments of heated debated will haunt her wherever she goes because over 3 million people have condemned her without knowing the whole story. We shouldn’t have the right to execute someone’s life based on biased opinions and half-truths. Yes, freedom of speech grants us political freedom from persecution based on what we say, but shouldn’t we have a moral obligation installed in us to not persecute others with our words?
We are too far into American civilization to turn back now, but I feel that this past decade has been trying to teach us a lesson that we are talking too loudly and too much to hear. Yes, we all have a voice. Yes, we should all have the right to express that voice. But, what if the words of that voice are not conducive to the greater good of American citizens? My mother always told me, “there’s a time to stand up, a time to speak up, and a time to shut up.” In this age of internet comments and soapboxes it has become all too easy to stand up and speak up leaving us to forget the art of shutting up until we have all the facts.
To err is human. Just as everyone will make mistakes and say things they regret multiple times in their lives, we have got to restrain ourselves from reacting so negatively to the tidbits of information and half-researched stories that circulate and indict individuals. I stand firmly behind our freedom to eloquently and even unintelligibly express our opinions, but I also believe that we need to cultivate a culture in which we remember the power that our words have, especially en masse. In this society where our online buzz creates news stories out of partiality and pure laziness on the parts of our news media, we should demand more from news outlets while also learning to control ourselves.
To converse about these things isn’t a problem, but to create a hive-mind thought process that reinforces negative uninformed judgments which develop very real and serious consequences is an issue. The latest news to this story is that the person who filmed the video is looking to file charges against the woman. SFSU police is investigating the situation and has turned it over to the district attorney. Who put hands on who first? Who is to blame for this situation? Who is in the wrong? It’s not our duty to be the jury and say if we haven’t received all of the facts, and that is a lesson that we must remember for the sake and sanity of any individual caught up in the unfortunate sensationalism of a viral video.
