Author's book publication cancelled after a tweet reporting on a WMATA employee eating on the metro

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I actually know this woman, she's not a racist, conflating her stupid tweet with racism is ridiculous. Calling out people is what she does. Why she did it this time, in this fashion, I'm not sure. BUT, she's not a racist.

Shows you how crazy Dems have gone and why no one trusts them or the "racist" label anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I actually know this woman, she's not a racist, conflating her stupid tweet with racism is ridiculous. Calling out people is what she does. Why she did it this time, in this fashion, I'm not sure. BUT, she's not a racist.

I don't think she is I just think she's an idiot.

This seemed more classist to me than racist, but I think it also fits in with the overall issue of black people being monitored and policed in a different way from everyone else. I would imagine if NT had done this in the years before BBQ Becky and all those others, it would have been taken differently than it is now.

Bad judgment for a supposed communications expert. But I think it's also worth remembering that this could happen to any of us, who speak without thinking sometimes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Book deal lady seems like a first class beeyatch but I see nothing wrong with this - a uniformed metro employee breaking the law (or what we all thought the law was until yesterday.) This deserves to get called out and I do t see why race matters to anyone except the wapo reporter and all the faux woke people here.

This isn't the metro worker being rude (if that were a crime ain't enough jails in the world). This was small but criminal behavior by someone who KNOWS better.

Because book lady was seen as punching down. It's a bad look for someone who styles herself as an ally to the underrepresented.

I don't understand why it's so hard for people to understand this.

Can we stop with this punching down nonsense.
Jobs at metro are great jobs. Coveted jobs.
NEWSFLASH DUM DUMS: the metro workers are often making as much or more than the white collar riders.

No, we can't stop with this punching down nonsense. No one is saying that this woman was homeless. But some anonymous Metro employee wearing a uniform while eating her lunch when she shouldn't be is not as powerful as an author whose book is about to be published. The author is in a different position. Do you really not understand that?

Well, since her book deal was cancelled, it sounds like her position was quite precarious.

I give up.

You should because you're not explaining yourself well. The Metro worker was wearing a uniform and breaking a Metro rule. Yet the person pointing that out is the one facing consequences. Metro should just dump the rule about eating/drinking if their own employees aren't going to follow it.

[Anonymous]

I also know her. She is a good person. While I don’t agree with her tweet, we all have done stupid things. I hate how she is being completely vilified because of one action.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Book deal lady seems like a first class beeyatch but I see nothing wrong with this - a uniformed metro employee breaking the law (or what we all thought the law was until yesterday.) This deserves to get called out and I do t see why race matters to anyone except the wapo reporter and all the faux woke people here.

This isn't the metro worker being rude (if that were a crime ain't enough jails in the world). This was small but criminal behavior by someone who KNOWS better.

Because book lady was seen as punching down. It's a bad look for someone who styles herself as an ally to the underrepresented.

I don't understand why it's so hard for people to understand this.

Can we stop with this punching down nonsense.
Jobs at metro are great jobs. Coveted jobs.
NEWSFLASH DUM DUMS: the metro workers are often making as much or more than the white collar riders.

No, we can't stop with this punching down nonsense. No one is saying that this woman was homeless. But some anonymous Metro employee wearing a uniform while eating her lunch when she shouldn't be is not as powerful as an author whose book is about to be published. The author is in a different position. Do you really not understand that?

Well, since her book deal was cancelled, it sounds like her position was quite precarious.

I give up.

You should because you're not explaining yourself well. The Metro worker was wearing a uniform and breaking a Metro rule. Yet the person pointing that out is the one facing consequences. Metro should just dump the rule about eating/drinking if their own employees aren't going to follow it.

the worker probably should have been arrested, too, while we're at it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I actually know this woman, she's not a racist, conflating her stupid tweet with racism is ridiculous. Calling out people is what she does. Why she did it this time, in this fashion, I'm not sure. BUT, she's not a racist.

I don't think she is I just think she's an idiot.

This seemed more classist to me than racist, but I think it also fits in with the overall issue of black people being monitored and policed in a different way from everyone else. I would imagine if NT had done this in the years before BBQ Becky and all those others, it would have been taken differently than it is now.

Bad judgment for a supposed communications expert. But I think it's also worth remembering that this could happen to any of us, who speak without thinking sometimes.

The OP here (op of the comment not thread). Possibly, but knowing her, I can tell you if this was an old white man WMATA employee, she'd have made the same tweet. It wasn't class or race based. Part of her brand is calling out hypocrisy when she sees it. In this case, she made several really bad mistakes. But who of us doesn't. And while I completely understand the hypocrisy sentiment, I'd never have posted the woman's picture. But to drag her through the mud and ask for her head was WAY way crazy of a reaction. I'm a liberal and consider myself both woke and an ally, and I think the reaction to this has been hysterical and vindictive. And Unsuckmetro is trash. I didn't realize this till this whole debacle happened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I actually know this woman, she's not a racist, conflating her stupid tweet with racism is ridiculous. Calling out people is what she does. Why she did it this time, in this fashion, I'm not sure. BUT, she's not a racist.

I don't think she is I just think she's an idiot.

This seemed more classist to me than racist, but I think it also fits in with the overall issue of black people being monitored and policed in a different way from everyone else. I would imagine if NT had done this in the years before BBQ Becky and all those others, it would have been taken differently than it is now.

Bad judgment for a supposed communications expert. But I think it's also worth remembering that this could happen to any of us, who speak without thinking sometimes.

The OP here (op of the comment not thread). Possibly, but knowing her, I can tell you if this was an old white man WMATA employee, she'd have made the same tweet. It wasn't class or race based. Part of her brand is calling out hypocrisy when she sees it. In this case, she made several really bad mistakes. But who of us doesn't. And while I completely understand the hypocrisy sentiment, I'd never have posted the woman's picture. But to drag her through the mud and ask for her head was WAY way crazy of a reaction. I'm a liberal and consider myself both woke and an ally, and I think the reaction to this has been hysterical and vindictive. And Unsuckmetro is trash. I didn't realize this till this whole debacle happened.

Her only mistake was to be brave, and to denounce something that needed to be publicly denounced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I actually know this woman, she's not a racist, conflating her stupid tweet with racism is ridiculous. Calling out people is what she does. Why she did it this time, in this fashion, I'm not sure. BUT, she's not a racist.

I don't think she is I just think she's an idiot.

This seemed more classist to me than racist, but I think it also fits in with the overall issue of black people being monitored and policed in a different way from everyone else. I would imagine if NT had done this in the years before BBQ Becky and all those others, it would have been taken differently than it is now.

Bad judgment for a supposed communications expert. But I think it's also worth remembering that this could happen to any of us, who speak without thinking sometimes.

The OP here (op of the comment not thread). Possibly, but knowing her, I can tell you if this was an old white man WMATA employee, she'd have made the same tweet. It wasn't class or race based. Part of her brand is calling out hypocrisy when she sees it. In this case, she made several really bad mistakes. But who of us doesn't. And while I completely understand the hypocrisy sentiment, I'd never have posted the woman's picture. But to drag her through the mud and ask for her head was WAY way crazy of a reaction. I'm a liberal and consider myself both woke and an ally, and I think the reaction to this has been hysterical and vindictive. And Unsuckmetro is trash. I didn't realize this till this whole debacle happened.

This is PP again (and thank you for being able to talk about the nuances about this and not engaging in hysterics in either direction). I think the thing is that she didn't need to have racist or classist intent for it to come across as racist and/or classist. It just looks real bad when a blue check mark author on Twitter tweets out a photo of a black woman in a uniform, with what sounds like a petty complaint - that the woman didn't obsequiously respond to the author's complaint that she should not be eating on the Metro. I haven't quite parsed through my thoughts about this (outside of that it was obviously just shooting herself in the foot, to tweet this, given that she was looking to be embraced by exactly the people who were clearly going to be offended by this whole thing).

Maybe it just seemed dickish more than anything? Let's even throw a bone to the BBQ Beckys here - say she was right that this person was flagrantly violating important rules and then was rude to boot. It's still dickish to decide that THIS is the thing you want to ruin someone's day over.

What is her personality usually like? Is she petty? Is she overall kind but quick to jump down someone's throat if she thinks they've done wrong? Was she just in a bad mood?

Just reading some of the coverage - it doesn't sound like her book was canceled, just delayed. If I were her I would start immediately trying to rehabilitate my image.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I also know her. She is a good person. While I don’t agree with her tweet, we all have done stupid things. I hate how she is being completely vilified because of one action.

You don’t agree with her or just the tweet?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Book deal lady seems like a first class beeyatch but I see nothing wrong with this - a uniformed metro employee breaking the law (or what we all thought the law was until yesterday.) This deserves to get called out and I do t see why race matters to anyone except the wapo reporter and all the faux woke people here.

This isn't the metro worker being rude (if that were a crime ain't enough jails in the world). This was small but criminal behavior by someone who KNOWS better.

Because book lady was seen as punching down. It's a bad look for someone who styles herself as an ally to the underrepresented.

I don't understand why it's so hard for people to understand this.

Can we stop with this punching down nonsense.
Jobs at metro are great jobs. Coveted jobs.
NEWSFLASH DUM DUMS: the metro workers are often making as much or more than the white collar riders.

No, we can't stop with this punching down nonsense. No one is saying that this woman was homeless. But some anonymous Metro employee wearing a uniform while eating her lunch when she shouldn't be is not as powerful as an author whose book is about to be published. The author is in a different position. Do you really not understand that?

Well, since her book deal was cancelled, it sounds like her position was quite precarious.

I give up.

You should because you're not explaining yourself well. The Metro worker was wearing a uniform and breaking a Metro rule. Yet the person pointing that out is the one facing consequences. Metro should just dump the rule about eating/drinking if their own employees aren't going to follow it.

+1 People represent their employers when they're on duty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I actually know this woman, she's not a racist, conflating her stupid tweet with racism is ridiculous. Calling out people is what she does. Why she did it this time, in this fashion, I'm not sure. BUT, she's not a racist.

I don't think she is I just think she's an idiot.

This seemed more classist to me than racist, but I think it also fits in with the overall issue of black people being monitored and policed in a different way from everyone else. I would imagine if NT had done this in the years before BBQ Becky and all those others, it would have been taken differently than it is now.

Bad judgment for a supposed communications expert. But I think it's also worth remembering that this could happen to any of us, who speak without thinking sometimes.

X100. I also think that the person who defended the author by knowing her and "knowing she isn't a racist," is missing this point about policing black people in public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I actually know this woman, she's not a racist, conflating her stupid tweet with racism is ridiculous. Calling out people is what she does. Why she did it this time, in this fashion, I'm not sure. BUT, she's not a racist.

I don't think she is I just think she's an idiot.

This seemed more classist to me than racist, but I think it also fits in with the overall issue of black people being monitored and policed in a different way from everyone else. I would imagine if NT had done this in the years before BBQ Becky and all those others, it would have been taken differently than it is now.

Bad judgment for a supposed communications expert. But I think it's also worth remembering that this could happen to any of us, who speak without thinking sometimes.

X100. I also think that the person who defended the author by knowing her and "knowing she isn't a racist," is missing this point about policing black people in public.

Agree. Also, I think poor/working class black people are even more likely to be impacted by unconscious biases.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Book deal lady seems like a first class beeyatch but I see nothing wrong with this - a uniformed metro employee breaking the law (or what we all thought the law was until yesterday.) This deserves to get called out and I do t see why race matters to anyone except the wapo reporter and all the faux woke people here.

This isn't the metro worker being rude (if that were a crime ain't enough jails in the world). This was small but criminal behavior by someone who KNOWS better.

Because book lady was seen as punching down. It's a bad look for someone who styles herself as an ally to the underrepresented.

I don't understand why it's so hard for people to understand this.

Can we stop with this punching down nonsense.
Jobs at metro are great jobs. Coveted jobs.
NEWSFLASH DUM DUMS: the metro workers are often making as much or more than the white collar riders.

No, we can't stop with this punching down nonsense. No one is saying that this woman was homeless. But some anonymous Metro employee wearing a uniform while eating her lunch when she shouldn't be is not as powerful as an author whose book is about to be published. The author is in a different position. Do you really not understand that?

Well, since her book deal was cancelled, it sounds like her position was quite precarious.

I give up.

You should because you're not explaining yourself well. The Metro worker was wearing a uniform and breaking a Metro rule. Yet the person pointing that out is the one facing consequences. Metro should just dump the rule about eating/drinking if their own employees aren't going to follow it.

+1 People represent their employers when they're on duty.

Writers represent their publishers when they tweet. Oh well, I'm sure she'll figure it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
No, I do not think anyone should eat on the underground public transport in a city full of rats.

This author was not in the wrong in calling an employee out.

I do not know the reason for the publication cancellation, but if the tweet is really the reason, then it's deplorable. And really weird.

If the employee was a White man then the author would have been lauded. I think the author was correct in tweeting this as a metro customer. She got dinged because the employee was a black female.

If using social media was overreaction, then so was publishing it in WaPo.

What did the Black employee or Metro lose? Nothing. What did the whistleblower lose - quite a lot. She should sue the Metro and her publisher.

Good luck to her. In this day and age hell she could end up with her own reality show as a result of all this but I bet you one thing, she'll think twice before she tweets again.

DP. This whole debacle illustrates why some of us are glad we're not and never were on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. Originally I wasn't on them because I don't need to have a public bulletin board about my life and can use other ways to tell actual friends what's going on. Now I'm glad I was such a stick in the mud, because increasingly anything on these forums can end up attracting the attention of individual nuts or of the mob (right-wing mob or PC mob--take your pick). And don't think that privacy settings will always protect you if you've ever allowed even a few public posts.

But again, this is a difference between a regular person and a book author. Authors basically HAVE to be on social media because it's part of your platform for selling books. That means you have to not be a total f*cking idiot on social media, because you're doing it in part for your job. Don't undermine your platform on Twitter just because you are feeling petty about some Metro employee who's doing something you don't like.

That said, if you don't need to be on social media and you feel like the risks are too high, then maybe it is smart to avoid it.

This si true. It's just business.

No need to posit things about PC police or the liberal elite or whatever -- this is a publisher who decided that the author (who doubtlessly had some clauses about controversy and social media in the contract, because it's pretty much boilerplate now) had drawn attention that they didn't want to be associated with and/or thought would negatively affect them.

Businesses do that, especially publishers. So it goes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Book deal lady seems like a first class beeyatch but I see nothing wrong with this - a uniformed metro employee breaking the law (or what we all thought the law was until yesterday.) This deserves to get called out and I do t see why race matters to anyone except the wapo reporter and all the faux woke people here.

This isn't the metro worker being rude (if that were a crime ain't enough jails in the world). This was small but criminal behavior by someone who KNOWS better.

Because book lady was seen as punching down. It's a bad look for someone who styles herself as an ally to the underrepresented.

I don't understand why it's so hard for people to understand this.

Can we stop with this punching down nonsense.
Jobs at metro are great jobs. Coveted jobs.
NEWSFLASH DUM DUMS: the metro workers are often making as much or more than the white collar riders.

No, we can't stop with this punching down nonsense. No one is saying that this woman was homeless. But some anonymous Metro employee wearing a uniform while eating her lunch when she shouldn't be is not as powerful as an author whose book is about to be published. The author is in a different position. Do you really not understand that?

Well, since her book deal was cancelled, it sounds like her position was quite precarious.

I give up.

You should because you're not explaining yourself well. The Metro worker was wearing a uniform and breaking a Metro rule. Yet the person pointing that out is the one facing consequences. Metro should just dump the rule about eating/drinking if their own employees aren't going to follow it.

+1 People represent their employers when they're on duty.

They certainly do!

Contracted authors on social media represent their publishing company.