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

[Anonymous]

So - a DC woman tweeted out a photo of a uniformed metro employee eating on the Metro, noting that Metro prohibits eating on the metro, and complaining about a metro employee violating the same rule metro employees ask riders to respect. The tweeter is Arab American and the metro employee she complained about is a black woman. Now her publisher and book distributor are cancelling her novel's publication as a result. (See Post article below: https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2019/05/11/dc-pundit-shamed-metro-worker-eating-train-now-her-book-deal-is-jeopardy/?utm_term=.804898e5dbb8).

So, I agree her tweet was unnecessary and thoughtless: metro employees are low wage workers who get very short breaks, and this poor metro employee could now get fired.

But a) Metro does enforce its no eating policy, often in absurd and horrible ways, often against people of color, so is it really inherently horrendous for the tweeting author to highlight that this is a bit hypocritical? (see: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/metro-transit-police-arrest-teenager-for-carrying-chips-and-lollipop-into-station/2016/10/19/1360a014-9627-11e6-bb29-bf2701dbe0a3_story.html?utm_term=.fe6adc99091b)

And b) If she had instead posted a photo of a uniformed DC cop breaking a law that other people go to jail for breaking (maybe having an open container of alcohol, or peeing in an alley), would everyone be calling her a racist if the cop in her photo was African America - as opposed to thanking her for highlighting police hypocrisy?

And c) Her book was cancelled, WTF? Even if you think her tweet was completely thoughtless, should this really lead to her book being nixed?

I consider myself very much on the left and I think both commuters and metro employees should be able to eat on the metro without fear of arrest or discipline, and I also think low wage workers get a shitty deal, and low wage African American female workers get a particularly shitty deal. But I also think it's frightening that this tweeter's NOVEL has been cancelled because of a tweet that was, at worst, thoughtless, for which she has already apologized.

Am I missing something?

[Anonymous]

Who made her the Metro police?

What you’re missing is that black people cannot and do not do this stuff—acting as though they are the enforcement unit for shared public space. It’s entitled behavior.

[Anonymous]

I agree that it's entitled behavior. But should her BOOK be cancelled as a result?

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who made her the Metro police?

What you’re missing is that black people cannot and do not do this stuff—acting as though they are the enforcement unit for shared public space. It’s entitled behavior.

Ok, but do the thought experiment: Arab-American woman tweets photo of African-American cop engaging in petty form of illegal behavior for which cops lock up other people. Would your reaction be the same?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who made her the Metro police?

What you’re missing is that black people cannot and do not do this stuff—acting as though they are the enforcement unit for shared public space. It’s entitled behavior.

Wait. Who’s entitled? The person eating on metro?

[Anonymous]

PSA:
Metro workers are NOT low wage workers. jobs at Metro are great jobs for often low/unskilled workers.

[Anonymous]

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.

The author is in the wrong because she was a COMMUNICATIONS PROFESSIONAL. How can that be your job and you don't know when to keep your mouth shut?

Just like Justine Sacco and her AIDs tweet.



https://www.vox.com/2018/1/19/16911074/justine-sacco-iac-match-group-return-tweet

[Anonymous]

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.

The author is in the wrong because she was a COMMUNICATIONS PROFESSIONAL. How can that be your job and you don't know when to keep your mouth shut?

Just like Justine Sacco and her AIDs tweet.



https://www.vox.com/2018/1/19/16911074/justine-sacco-iac-match-group-return-tweet

Yeah. Those are not similar scenarios.

[Anonymous]

Why should the Metro employee's race make any difference?

[Anonymous]

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.

The author is in the wrong because she was a COMMUNICATIONS PROFESSIONAL. How can that be your job and you don't know when to keep your mouth shut?

Just like Justine Sacco and her AIDs tweet.



https://www.vox.com/2018/1/19/16911074/justine-sacco-iac-match-group-return-tweet

The woman saw a Metro employee eating and tweeted about it. What leap of logic leads you to believe it's analogous to Sacco's behavior?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that it's entitled behavior. But should her BOOK be cancelled as a result?

She used her minority status to book interviews talking about being marginalized and discriminated against. Yet she called out another minority woman on the train and tagged her employer at the same time. Did she out any of the white commuters regularly drinking starbucks on the train?

The Complicated Reality of a Minority Writer

A writer of color is the label that currently defines my literary persona. Whether I like it or not, that’s who I am in the eyes of many in the writing community. Am I a writer of color? What color exactly?

Born in Amman, Jordan, a fairly homogeneous city where we called ourselves Jordanians, Arabs, I never thought of myself as any color. I’m not white, brown or black. I was what I was. I had to fly thousands of miles to the U.S. to discover my brownness. To describe my skin color as olive, and my eyes as almond. To explain my ethnicity every time I opened my mouth and people heard my accent.

As I embarked on writing They Called Me Wyatt, a novel set between Jordan and the U.S., which explores societal challenges faced by women and what it means to defy your cultural norms, I slowly started to embrace my label as a writer of color.

https://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/damned-if-i-do-damned-if-i-dont-the-complicated-reality-of-a-minority-writer

[Anonymous]

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.

The author is in the wrong because she was a COMMUNICATIONS PROFESSIONAL. How can that be your job and you don't know when to keep your mouth shut?

Just like Justine Sacco and her AIDs tweet.



https://www.vox.com/2018/1/19/16911074/justine-sacco-iac-match-group-return-tweet

Does a communications professional hamper you from calling out people who do wrong in their professional capacity? Metro employees should model good behavior on Metro. Seems like a no-brainer, and anyone who sees them do otherwise can absolutely call them out on social media.

I really don't understand why you don't get this.

[Anonymous]

Would the reaction have been different if the Metro employee was white? I thought the rules were the same for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that it's entitled behavior. But should her BOOK be cancelled as a result?

She used her minority status to book interviews talking about being marginalized and discriminated against. Yet she called out another minority woman on the train and tagged her employer at the same time. Did she out any of the white commuters regularly drinking starbucks on the train?

The Complicated Reality of a Minority Writer

A writer of color is the label that currently defines my literary persona. Whether I like it or not, that’s who I am in the eyes of many in the writing community. Am I a writer of color? What color exactly?

Born in Amman, Jordan, a fairly homogeneous city where we called ourselves Jordanians, Arabs, I never thought of myself as any color. I’m not white, brown or black. I was what I was. I had to fly thousands of miles to the U.S. to discover my brownness. To describe my skin color as olive, and my eyes as almond. To explain my ethnicity every time I opened my mouth and people heard my accent.

As I embarked on writing They Called Me Wyatt, a novel set between Jordan and the U.S., which explores societal challenges faced by women and what it means to defy your cultural norms, I slowly started to embrace my label as a writer of color.

https://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/damned-if-i-do-damned-if-i-dont-the-complicated-reality-of-a-minority-writer

The white riders likely weren’t wearing metro uniforms. Don’t suspend your critical thinking skills.