But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. -- Matthew 6:15
When three young White women at the University of Mississippi were walking through an apartment complex, they made some monkey noises in front of a doorbell camera. Video was uploaded to TikTok, and the story went viral and became a national news story. The women claimed they had done this in front of multiple doors and did not know the women in the apartment were Black.
But what happened immediately after the video ended changes everything. Multiple news sources reported that the women were confronted immediately after the video ended and apologized for their actions. These women did something really stupid and immediately apologized. They probably thought it was over and were embarrassed. Making this public is 100% pure vindictiveness and clout chasing, especially since the so-called "victims" have done media interviews after the fact. Refusing to accept an apology shows a real lack of character.
And no, I do not believe the blonde continued making monkey noises and gestures right to the black women's faces, especially considering doing something like that is likely to start a fight.
The online mob's rage is not only directed at the first two women, but at the third one for allegedly not saying anything. I say "allegedly" because no one knows what she said after the fact in private or if she expressed displeasure with what was done. Even if she said nothing, her friends had already apologized after they were confronted, so there was no need to pile on.
Because the Internet (and especially TikTok) is a rancid sewer, the reaction to this has been ridiculously disproportionate. The women have gotten death threats and harassment and there is an effort to ruin their lives. All of this for a childish performance on a video. Not only is there no forgiveness, but there is no sense of proportion. Shame on the "university" for not standing up for these women in the face of death threats, rape threats and harassment. Perhaps the Trump Administration should order a Title IX investigation, but the women's best hope is for Shane Gillis to make some jokes about how they were dressed so they can get some sympathy from the mob.
As someone who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, there are times when I miss the days before the Internet, or at least before 2000. If you did something stupid or offensive, you would be called out in person. You would then either apologize or be a jerk. Then it would be over. There would be no nationwide mob, no global news story and no running to the Internet to tattle on the jerks for validation and instant fame. This kind of stuff would be handled face to face by mature adults, and then it would be over. There are many, many people in Generation X, and many Millennials, who are thankful they did not live in a world under constant video surveillance, never wondering if a foolish prank would land them on the nightly news.
Do we as a society really not have enough to do? Are we so wealthy and spoiled that we can take time to destroy someone's life over a few seconds of foolish horseplay on video - especially when they immediately apologized before anyone outside of the immediate vicinity ever knew about it? Are our pwecious widdle feewings really so fragile that some college women acting silly traumatizes us? Seriously people, grow up and get over yourselves.
The Ole Miss "monkey video" controversy
There are many, many people in Generation X, and many Millennials, who are thankful they did not live in a world under constant video surveillance.
