美国国家公共电台 NPR Some Are Troubled By Online Shaming Of Charlottesville Rally Participants

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

The photos that have emerged from the white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Va. are powerful - I mean, sometimes frightening - bodies flying as a car hits a crowd, torch-lit faces twisted with anger. Over the past couple of days, identities are getting attached to those images as social media digests the photos.

And some participants in the march and the violence have lost their jobs as a result of that. NPR's Laura Sydell reports on the ethically¹ murky² practice of naming and shaming.

LAURA SYDELL, BYLINE³: Yes, You're Racist⁴ is the name of a Twitter account that's been very active in posting pictures of white supremacists at the Charlottesville rally. Logan Smith runs the account.

LOGAN SMITH: They're not wearing hoods⁵ anymore. They're out in the open. And if they're proud to stand with KKK members and neo-Nazis and anti-government militias⁷, then I think the community should know who they are.

SYDELL: Smith says he did not attend the rally. But he's getting pictures from activists⁸ who were on the ground through other social media. He reposts them on his Twitter account.

SMITH: Immediately, as soon as I posted those photos, people saying, oh, I went to high school with this person; I had a class in college with that person; I recognize this person as a prominent white supremacist in my area.

SYDELL: Then Smith would add names and places to the photos. And that has had some consequences in the real world. Cole White, who used to work at a hotdog restaurant in Berkeley, Calif., voluntarily resigned on Saturday after his employer confronted him to discuss his participation⁹ in the rally. The father of participant Jeff Tefft felt he had to post a letter in a local newspaper disavowing his son.

Although Pearce Tefft says he and his family are not racists, they've been harassed¹⁰ by people upset with his son. David Clinton Wills is a visiting professor at NYU who follows social media. He's actually a little upset by the way that anti-racist activists are using Twitter.

DAVID CLINTON WILLS: Never in my lifetime did I remotely think I would vaguely¹¹ defend the rights of a possibly very hateful person.

SYDELL: Wills happens to be black and Jewish.

WILLS: It scares me to call that activism because it seems more like a certain condemnation¹² and a certain judgment¹³ that ironically flies in the face of democracy itself.

SYDELL: In fact, Wills sees a lynch mob mentality¹⁴ on both the left and the right when they try to use social media to shame people. Last week, Google was at the center of another social media storm when a memo¹⁵ by a company employee critical of diversity efforts at Google went viral. When Google fired the employee, websites on the right critical of the company's actions released names of Google employees, and they were then harassed online.

For Wills, the historical parallel is Nazi⁶ Germany. Wills says the Third Reich encouraged citizens to name people they thought were enemies of the state.

WILLS: When that became a power that your neighbor could execute or your neighbor could use against other people, the power became unchecked.

SYDELL: Wills says all kinds of people began to get caught up in the dragnet of laws and declarations of enemies. He says, social media activists are still very far from the evil that was the Third Reich. Still, he feels maybe people should take a moment to think before they press the send button with someone else's name in the message. For example, it's possible that the pictures don't tell the whole story.

They can be Photoshopped. Perhaps someone has an axe¹⁶ to grind and wants to make it look like someone is a racist. Smith, who runs the Yes, You're Racist Twitter account says he's willing to risk a mistake to speak out.

SMITH: Ever since the days of the KKK burning crosses in people's yard, they depend on people remaining silent. And no matter the risk, I'm not going away.

SYDELL: And neither are the people who disagree with Smith. One thing is certain. In the age of social media, anyone who wants a soapbox can have one. Laura Sydell, NPR News.

1 ethically   

adv.在伦理上，道德上

参考例句：

• Ethically , we have nothing to be ashamed about . 从伦理上说，我们没有什么好羞愧的。
• Describe the appropriate action to take in an ethically ambiguous situation. 描述适当行为采取在一个道德地模棱两可的情况。

2 murky   

adj.黑暗的，朦胧的；adv.阴暗地，混浊地；n.阴暗；昏暗

参考例句：

• She threw it into the river's murky depths.她把它扔进了混浊的河水深处。
• She had a decidedly murky past.她的历史背景令人捉摸不透。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

5 hoods   

n.兜帽( hood的名词复数 )；头巾；（汽车、童车等的）折合式车篷；汽车发动机罩v.兜帽( hood的第三人称单数 )；头巾；（汽车、童车等的）折合式车篷；汽车发动机罩

参考例句：

• Michael looked at the four hoods sitting in the kitchen. 迈克尔瞅了瞅坐在厨房里的四条汉子。 来自教父部分
• Eskimos wear hoods to keep their heads warm. 爱斯基摩人戴兜帽使头暖和。 来自辞典例句

6 Nazi   

n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的

参考例句：

• They declare the Nazi regime overthrown and sue for peace.他们宣布纳粹政权已被推翻，并出面求和。
• Nazi closes those war criminals inside their concentration camp.纳粹把那些战犯关在他们的集中营里。

7 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网

8 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

10 harassed   

adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He has complained of being harassed by the police. 他投诉受到警方侵扰。
• harassed mothers with their children 带着孩子的疲惫不堪的母亲们

11 vaguely   

adv.含糊地，暖昧地

参考例句：

• He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
• He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面，对一切都视而不见。

12 condemnation   

n.谴责; 定罪

参考例句：

• There was widespread condemnation of the invasion. 那次侵略遭到了人们普遍的谴责。
• The jury's condemnation was a shock to the suspect. 陪审团宣告有罪使嫌疑犯大为震惊。

13 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

14 mentality   

n.心理，思想，脑力

参考例句：

• He has many years'experience of the criminal mentality.他研究犯罪心理有多年经验。
• Running a business requires a very different mentality from being a salaried employee.经营企业所要求具备的心态和上班族的心态截然不同。

15 memo   

n.照会，备忘录；便笺；通知书；规章

参考例句：

• Do you want me to send the memo out?您要我把这份备忘录分发出去吗？
• Can you type a memo for me?您能帮我打一份备忘录吗？

16 axe   

n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减

参考例句：

• Be careful with that sharp axe.那把斧子很锋利，你要当心。
• The edge of this axe has turned.这把斧子卷了刃了。