Usually I am not one for internet public shaming. I find cancel culture to be horribly corrosive to society, drawing from some of the worst moments in history.
This time I’m going to cover it and in a way not entirely in the same way that the rest of social media has.
Amy Cooper let her dog off its leash in Central Park. This is neither here nor there for me because I’ve let my dog off her leash a few times in places where I shouldn’t have when nobody else was around.
Some black guy decided to be a Karen and call her out for it. If her dog was not bothering him, why the fuck was it his business to say anything? Then he starts to record her with her dog.
Fuck this guy.
I’m suddenly reminded of this meme comic:
If that is where this story ended it wouldn’t have been a story other than the irony of a black man being a Karen to a white woman, which is the opposite of how it happens 99.9% of the time.
However, the dog walker decided to out Karen the man Karening her and in doing so fucked up royally.
She called the cops and lied to them saying that a black man was threatening her.
https://twitter.com/melodyMcooper/status/1264965252866641920
Yup, that’s pretty fucking racist, and she was caught on camera doing it. She KNEW she was on camera and did it anyway.
The internet tracked her down to her job at an investment management company and ratted her out and got her placed on administrative leave.
Granted that woman was a piece of shit, but forgive me if I don’t think that black guy comes away from this smelling like roses. He started that when he decided to record a woman for letting her dog off its leash.
It’s been a long, hard lockdown and if there is one lesson to be learned from what we’ve been seeing lately, it’s this:
IF SOMEONE ISN’T DIRECTLY HARMING YOU, LEAVE THEM THE FUCK ALONE!
If you really feel the need to call someone out for breaking some minor rule that really isn’t hurting anyone, write it down on a slip of paper and cram it up your ass. If it’s really important your proctologist has a duty to report it when he disimpacts your anal cavity and reads it.
These two Karens got into a pissing match and one lost, badly.
Also, one more lesson: If someone points a cellphone at you, that is the precise moment where you need to be on your best church behavior. Make the other person look like an asshole by being a shining beacon of the best of humanity.
Without having seen the video, and fully acknowledging that making a false police report was slimy … I’m having a hard time understanding why her company would put her on admin leave for this. It happened out of the workplace and – presumably – on her own time. So what business is it of the investment co. she works for?
There are possible exceptions, e.g. if she is a PR public-facing company her actions could damage the brand.
She was put on admin leave because her statement about an “African-American Man” threatening her life was perceived as racist. In NYC perception is reality.
I think the point is how this is grounds for termination. Can a company terminate you “because you are racist” or because when off the clock you behaved in a way they didn’t like? The answer is often “yes”, but it’s very problematic.
It’s pretty common for a company to discipline employees for public actions that happen outside of work. Anything that can reflect poorly on the company is likely to see discipline
This is the grossest thing about cancel culture. The internet mob will harass your employer until they fire you for something not work related on your off time. Companies feel like they have to sacrifice you to the mob or be boycotted.
Since the mob can go after you at any time for any reason, it sets bad precedent.
“My neighbor put out a Trump sign in his yard in our blue district. We’re going to get him fired by calling his employer and attacking them on Twitter until they break.”
Part of the video I was able to view showed the man(?) going into his pocket then making a show of trying to lure the dog away from her by offering it “treats”. The fellow came prepared.
His show of trying to co-op the dog was probably why she went off the deep end with her 911 call.