Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer wanted to realize a lifelong dream but his dream turned into a nightmare. Instead of shooting a lion named Scar or something like that, he shot a lion named Cecil.
Actually in the interests of journalism accuracy I really ought to ask Palmer if it was a lifelong dream. I’m assuming it was because a big game hunt in Africa takes a lot of bucks (sorry, couldn’t resist) so it’s not the kind of thing you do on a whim.
Unfortunately I can’t ask him because he’s in hiding. He’s shut his business down and – again assuming, but it’s a good bet his employees are looking for other work. Not just because of the shut down, but perhaps because they might consider it unwise to stand to close to him when he does resurface, given the number of threats he’s received.
Apparently Cecil was something of an international celebrity, the subject of studies and star of documentaries.
It is alleged Palmer’s African guides lured Cecil from his home on the nature park so Palmer could shoot him with a crossbow. Then he was tracked for some time before being finished off with a rifle. It is unclear at present if his guides broke any game laws or if Palmer was aware of any violations.
(And how exactly does one lure a lion? I’ve heard of staking an animal out to attract predators to a specific location, but how do you get them to follow you for some distance without actually catching you?)
Palmer went from obscurity to infamy in a matter of days.
Of course we know Internet threats are just people blowing off steam. Until they’re not.
Back in 2013, Justine Sacco a PR agent for the media firm IAC got on a flight to Africa. Being a bit of a twit, before she boarded she tweeted to some friends, “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just Kidding. I’m White!
When she arrived she found she’d been fired before the plane even landed after the tweet went viral.
Well maybe she should have been. Not because the tweet was stupid and offensive, but because she’s supposed to be a public relations expert for heaven’s sake!
What’s disturbing is a photo was taken of her apparently in the act of hearing her nice little world had just fallen apart. That’s how long it took someone to find out who she was, why people were upset with her, and get in a position to take the shot.
Would everybody please pause for a moment and try to recall stupid things they’ve said they really wouldn’t like to have broadcast to the four corners of the earth?
Would you like to consider how many of the outraged might be seriously disturbed individuals?
Now if that thought wasn’t disturbing enough, consider the phenomenon of flash mobs.
Flash mobs are large groups of people who assemble in response to text messages. Sometimes for fun, but sometimes to get 30-40 people together to loot a store and vanish before the police can arrive.
Flash mobs are the realtime version of virtual mobs. What they have in common is they are apparently random. Their rage can be triggered by any number of things and directed at anybody.
Yes, there are inciters who look for opportunities to direct public ire at public figures whose opinions they don’t like. But public figures are ready for that in this day and age and have prepared defenses. Ironically sometimes by employing PR people like Sacco.
Virtual mobs form to satisfy the basest instincts of mankind, the desire to bully and intimidate with perfect immunity. To wield the power of numbers without responsibility for the consequences. To pick random strangers and make them scape goats for their pathetic lives.
There have always been mobs. But mobs plus instant mass communication has produced something very ugly.
And I do not think we have seen the last, nor the worst of this phenomenon yet.
3 Responses to Virtual mobs