Anonymous wrote:The reality is DCUM is full of BBQ Becky’s so of course they think this is awful. How many threads have been posted here with people asking if they should call the cops about various non-criminal irritants like music coming from the roofing crew working across the street? I posted last summer about someone at the pool calling the cops TWICE on two boys who said they had left their pool passes at home and everyone here was like “well that seems fine, they can’t swim in our pool without a pass!!!”

DCUM is predominantly middle to upper middle class who’re women who are used to tattling on people who minorly inconvenience or annoy them because they a) would never have to worry over someone else causing them to lose their job for the same and b) don’t know or care what it’s like to have to actually fear interacting with law enforcement. They’re all identifying with the author here who they see as doing nothing wrong and got her book deal unfairly taken for this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love the metro employee for this:

"You worry about yourself."

That is perfect advice.

So that’s an acceptable thing to say when you are caught doing something wrong? I’m so going to use that next time I get pulled over for something.

Cop: “ma’am, I pulled you over because you were doing 75 in a 55mph zone.”

Me: “worry about yourself.”

PP would LOVE me. And DCUM would be so proud!

That would be the cop’s job.

Questioning the metro worker eating and posting that photo was not Metro Mandy’s job.

So what you are saying is that unless it it your job, no one can call out another person for doing something wrong? So if one of the off leash morons in my neighborhood has his dog off leash, because I’m not Animal control I can’t tell him it’s illegal to have your dog off leash in our county, and then request him to leash his dog, because it’s NOT MY JOB TO DO THAT?

This is priceless.

It’s not your job! MYOB. Why is that a hard concept to grasp?! You call the person whose job it actually is to handle those situations. He’s not going to put a leash on his dog bc you decided to confront him. You are no one and have no authority. If you want to patrol ppl and tell them what is illegal or not then you are setting yourself up. Ppl have actually gotten killed for what you think is your right to do.

Umm . . . Isn't the tweet that is the subject of the OP the equivalent of contacting the person whose job it is to handle the situation? The writer sent a tweet tagging WMATA that one of its employees was eating on the train.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love the metro employee for this:

"You worry about yourself."

That is perfect advice.

So that’s an acceptable thing to say when you are caught doing something wrong? I’m so going to use that next time I get pulled over for something.

Cop: “ma’am, I pulled you over because you were doing 75 in a 55mph zone.”

Me: “worry about yourself.”

PP would LOVE me. And DCUM would be so proud!

That would be the cop’s job.

Questioning the metro worker eating and posting that photo was not Metro Mandy’s job.

So what you are saying is that unless it it your job, no one can call out another person for doing something wrong? So if one of the off leash morons in my neighborhood has his dog off leash, because I’m not Animal control I can’t tell him it’s illegal to have your dog off leash in our county, and then request him to leash his dog, because it’s NOT MY JOB TO DO THAT?

This is priceless.

It’s not your job! MYOB. Why is that a hard concept to grasp?! You call the person whose job it actually is to handle those situations. He’s not going to put a leash on his dog bc you decided to confront him. You are no one and have no authority. If you want to patrol ppl and tell them what is illegal or not then you are setting yourself up. Ppl have actually gotten killed for what you think is your right to do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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?

While we don’t want to jump on the race bandwagon, many Arabs are racist. They will often be obsequious to white people but dismissive or outright rude to black people. Is this writer racist? I don’t know. Would she have taken a picture of a white employee eating? I don’t know the answer to that either. I do have an issue with her publishing the employee’s picture. Regardless of the fact that she was breaking the rules, she doesn’t deserve to be shamed publicly. Metro has a system in place for complaints, and she should have gone that route.

See the bolded statement. That one gross generalization about an entire group negates the rest of your entire post. Too bad, because you had a point there when you say she should have filed a complaint rather than posting online. But blathering that "many Arabs are racist" is so vastly general and nasty that it paints you pretty poorly. Fill in any other group for "Arabs" there and it's an equally stupid generalization, and those kinds of blanket statements only make today's antagonistic environment worse, never better.

I’ve lived in the Middle East for 11 years, so I know a little more than you, and this is not some gross generalization. I’ve witnessed it, black Arabs have told me about their experiences, and other Arabs have discussed it with me. This is not ‘blathering’ but something that actually happens. I did not say all Arabs; I said many.

What my Arab friends tell me is that American blacks are the most racist people they have met in their lives.

Not American whites or Latinos. Blacks.

Maybe your friends aren’t hiding their racism very well.

DP. I believe we see colorist attitudes and racism everywhere but I also think it’s a total lie to say that in some pockets, on an individual level, that African-Americans don’t engage in hideous behavior against others on the basis of race. Come on.

NT was absolutely in the wrong and anyone who wants someone disciplined for truly petty BS is a person I don’t want to know. All of that can be true without her getting the brunt of the She’s a racist! overreaction. I think she’d have done the same tweet-shaming of a white male WMATA employee.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love the metro employee for this:

"You worry about yourself."

That is perfect advice.

So that’s an acceptable thing to say when you are caught doing something wrong? I’m so going to use that next time I get pulled over for something.

Cop: “ma’am, I pulled you over because you were doing 75 in a 55mph zone.”

Me: “worry about yourself.”

PP would LOVE me. And DCUM would be so proud!

That would be the cop’s job.

Questioning the metro worker eating and posting that photo was not Metro Mandy’s job.

So what you are saying is that unless it it your job, no one can call out another person for doing something wrong? So if one of the off leash morons in my neighborhood has his dog off leash, because I’m not Animal control I can’t tell him it’s illegal to have your dog off leash in our county, and then request him to leash his dog, because it’s NOT MY JOB TO DO THAT?

This is priceless.

It’s not your job! MYOB. Why is that a hard concept to grasp?! You call the person whose job it actually is to handle those situations. He’s not going to put a leash on his dog bc you decided to confront him. You are no one and have no authority. If you want to patrol ppl and tell them what is illegal or not then you are setting yourself up. Ppl have actually gotten killed for what you think is your right to do.

Umm . . . Isn't the tweet that is the subject of the OP the equivalent of contacting the person whose job it is to handle the situation? The writer sent a tweet tagging WMATA that one of its employees was eating on the train.

She publicly tried to shame this person and get this person fired. She could have very well sent them a private message on Twitter. Or email. Or called them. Are you really that dense?

PSA: The worker is union and can’t be fired by a tweet

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love the metro employee for this:

"You worry about yourself."

That is perfect advice.

So that’s an acceptable thing to say when you are caught doing something wrong? I’m so going to use that next time I get pulled over for something.

Cop: “ma’am, I pulled you over because you were doing 75 in a 55mph zone.”

Me: “worry about yourself.”

PP would LOVE me. And DCUM would be so proud!

That would be the cop’s job.

Questioning the metro worker eating and posting that photo was not Metro Mandy’s job.

So what you are saying is that unless it it your job, no one can call out another person for doing something wrong? So if one of the off leash morons in my neighborhood has his dog off leash, because I’m not Animal control I can’t tell him it’s illegal to have your dog off leash in our county, and then request him to leash his dog, because it’s NOT MY JOB TO DO THAT?

This is priceless.

It’s not your job! MYOB. Why is that a hard concept to grasp?! You call the person whose job it actually is to handle those situations. He’s not going to put a leash on his dog bc you decided to confront him. You are no one and have no authority. If you want to patrol ppl and tell them what is illegal or not then you are setting yourself up. Ppl have actually gotten killed for what you think is your right to do.

Umm . . . Isn't the tweet that is the subject of the OP the equivalent of contacting the person whose job it is to handle the situation? The writer sent a tweet tagging WMATA that one of its employees was eating on the train.

She publicly tried to shame this person and get this person fired. She could have very well sent them a private message on Twitter. Or email. Or called them. Are you really that dense?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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?

While we don’t want to jump on the race bandwagon, many Arabs are racist. They will often be obsequious to white people but dismissive or outright rude to black people. Is this writer racist? I don’t know. Would she have taken a picture of a white employee eating? I don’t know the answer to that either. I do have an issue with her publishing the employee’s picture. Regardless of the fact that she was breaking the rules, she doesn’t deserve to be shamed publicly. Metro has a system in place for complaints, and she should have gone that route.

See the bolded statement. That one gross generalization about an entire group negates the rest of your entire post. Too bad, because you had a point there when you say she should have filed a complaint rather than posting online. But blathering that "many Arabs are racist" is so vastly general and nasty that it paints you pretty poorly. Fill in any other group for "Arabs" there and it's an equally stupid generalization, and those kinds of blanket statements only make today's antagonistic environment worse, never better.

I’ve lived in the Middle East for 11 years, so I know a little more than you, and this is not some gross generalization. I’ve witnessed it, black Arabs have told me about their experiences, and other Arabs have discussed it with me. This is not ‘blathering’ but something that actually happens. I did not say all Arabs; I said many.

What my Arab friends tell me is that American blacks are the most racist people they have met in their lives.

Not American whites or Latinos. Blacks.

Maybe your friends aren’t hiding their racism very well.

DP. I believe we see colorist attitudes and racism everywhere but I also think it’s a total lie to say that in some pockets, on an individual level, that African-Americans don’t engage in hideous behavior against others on the basis of race. Come on.

NT was absolutely in the wrong and anyone who wants someone disciplined for truly petty BS is a person I don’t want to know. All of that can be true without her getting the brunt of the She’s a racist! overreaction. I think she’d have done the same tweet-shaming of a white male WMATA employee.

And I actually think the response would have been similar, because no one likes to see service workers being picked on by the ruling class.

STOP posting pictures of people without their consent on abusive websites like Twitter. She wanted that woman to be scorned, shamed and humiliated, and now the tables have turned. I don't feel sorry for her at all.

BS and you know it.

I agree. Gimme a break. It would have been an outpouring of rants about hypocrisy of WMATA workers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love the metro employee for this:

"You worry about yourself."

That is perfect advice.

So that’s an acceptable thing to say when you are caught doing something wrong? I’m so going to use that next time I get pulled over for something.

Cop: “ma’am, I pulled you over because you were doing 75 in a 55mph zone.”

Me: “worry about yourself.”

PP would LOVE me. And DCUM would be so proud!

That would be the cop’s job.

Questioning the metro worker eating and posting that photo was not Metro Mandy’s job.

So what you are saying is that unless it it your job, no one can call out another person for doing something wrong? So if one of the off leash morons in my neighborhood has his dog off leash, because I’m not Animal control I can’t tell him it’s illegal to have your dog off leash in our county, and then request him to leash his dog, because it’s NOT MY JOB TO DO THAT?

This is priceless.

It’s not your job! MYOB. Why is that a hard concept to grasp?! You call the person whose job it actually is to handle those situations. He’s not going to put a leash on his dog bc you decided to confront him. You are no one and have no authority. If you want to patrol ppl and tell them what is illegal or not then you are setting yourself up. Ppl have actually gotten killed for what you think is your right to do.

Umm . . . Isn't the tweet that is the subject of the OP the equivalent of contacting the person whose job it is to handle the situation? The writer sent a tweet tagging WMATA that one of its employees was eating on the train.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love the metro employee for this:

"You worry about yourself."

That is perfect advice.

So that’s an acceptable thing to say when you are caught doing something wrong? I’m so going to use that next time I get pulled over for something.

Cop: “ma’am, I pulled you over because you were doing 75 in a 55mph zone.”

Me: “worry about yourself.”

PP would LOVE me. And DCUM would be so proud!

That would be the cop’s job.

Questioning the metro worker eating and posting that photo was not Metro Mandy’s job.

So what you are saying is that unless it it your job, no one can call out another person for doing something wrong? So if one of the off leash morons in my neighborhood has his dog off leash, because I’m not Animal control I can’t tell him it’s illegal to have your dog off leash in our county, and then request him to leash his dog, because it’s NOT MY JOB TO DO THAT?

This is priceless.

It’s not your job! MYOB. Why is that a hard concept to grasp?! You call the person whose job it actually is to handle those situations. He’s not going to put a leash on his dog bc you decided to confront him. You are no one and have no authority. If you want to patrol ppl and tell them what is illegal or not then you are setting yourself up. Ppl have actually gotten killed for what you think is your right to do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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?

While we don’t want to jump on the race bandwagon, many Arabs are racist. They will often be obsequious to white people but dismissive or outright rude to black people. Is this writer racist? I don’t know. Would she have taken a picture of a white employee eating? I don’t know the answer to that either. I do have an issue with her publishing the employee’s picture. Regardless of the fact that she was breaking the rules, she doesn’t deserve to be shamed publicly. Metro has a system in place for complaints, and she should have gone that route.

See the bolded statement. That one gross generalization about an entire group negates the rest of your entire post. Too bad, because you had a point there when you say she should have filed a complaint rather than posting online. But blathering that "many Arabs are racist" is so vastly general and nasty that it paints you pretty poorly. Fill in any other group for "Arabs" there and it's an equally stupid generalization, and those kinds of blanket statements only make today's antagonistic environment worse, never better.

I’ve lived in the Middle East for 11 years, so I know a little more than you, and this is not some gross generalization. I’ve witnessed it, black Arabs have told me about their experiences, and other Arabs have discussed it with me. This is not ‘blathering’ but something that actually happens. I did not say all Arabs; I said many.

What my Arab friends tell me is that American blacks are the most racist people they have met in their lives.

Not American whites or Latinos. Blacks.

Maybe your friends aren’t hiding their racism very well.

DP. I believe we see colorist attitudes and racism everywhere but I also think it’s a total lie to say that in some pockets, on an individual level, that African-Americans don’t engage in hideous behavior against others on the basis of race. Come on.

NT was absolutely in the wrong and anyone who wants someone disciplined for truly petty BS is a person I don’t want to know. All of that can be true without her getting the brunt of the She’s a racist! overreaction. I think she’d have done the same tweet-shaming of a white male WMATA employee.

And I actually think the response would have been similar, because no one likes to see service workers being picked on by the ruling class.

STOP posting pictures of people without their consent on abusive websites like Twitter. She wanted that woman to be scorned, shamed and humiliated, and now the tables have turned. I don't feel sorry for her at all.

BS and you know it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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?

While we don’t want to jump on the race bandwagon, many Arabs are racist. They will often be obsequious to white people but dismissive or outright rude to black people. Is this writer racist? I don’t know. Would she have taken a picture of a white employee eating? I don’t know the answer to that either. I do have an issue with her publishing the employee’s picture. Regardless of the fact that she was breaking the rules, she doesn’t deserve to be shamed publicly. Metro has a system in place for complaints, and she should have gone that route.

See the bolded statement. That one gross generalization about an entire group negates the rest of your entire post. Too bad, because you had a point there when you say she should have filed a complaint rather than posting online. But blathering that "many Arabs are racist" is so vastly general and nasty that it paints you pretty poorly. Fill in any other group for "Arabs" there and it's an equally stupid generalization, and those kinds of blanket statements only make today's antagonistic environment worse, never better.

I’ve lived in the Middle East for 11 years, so I know a little more than you, and this is not some gross generalization. I’ve witnessed it, black Arabs have told me about their experiences, and other Arabs have discussed it with me. This is not ‘blathering’ but something that actually happens. I did not say all Arabs; I said many.

What my Arab friends tell me is that American blacks are the most racist people they have met in their lives.

Not American whites or Latinos. Blacks.

Maybe your friends aren’t hiding their racism very well.

DP. I believe we see colorist attitudes and racism everywhere but I also think it’s a total lie to say that in some pockets, on an individual level, that African-Americans don’t engage in hideous behavior against others on the basis of race. Come on.

NT was absolutely in the wrong and anyone who wants someone disciplined for truly petty BS is a person I don’t want to know. All of that can be true without her getting the brunt of the She’s a racist! overreaction. I think she’d have done the same tweet-shaming of a white male WMATA employee.

And I actually think the response would have been similar, because no one likes to see service workers being picked on by the ruling class.

STOP posting pictures of people without their consent on abusive websites like Twitter. She wanted that woman to be scorned, shamed and humiliated, and now the tables have turned. I don't feel sorry for her at all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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?

While we don’t want to jump on the race bandwagon, many Arabs are racist. They will often be obsequious to white people but dismissive or outright rude to black people. Is this writer racist? I don’t know. Would she have taken a picture of a white employee eating? I don’t know the answer to that either. I do have an issue with her publishing the employee’s picture. Regardless of the fact that she was breaking the rules, she doesn’t deserve to be shamed publicly. Metro has a system in place for complaints, and she should have gone that route.

See the bolded statement. That one gross generalization about an entire group negates the rest of your entire post. Too bad, because you had a point there when you say she should have filed a complaint rather than posting online. But blathering that "many Arabs are racist" is so vastly general and nasty that it paints you pretty poorly. Fill in any other group for "Arabs" there and it's an equally stupid generalization, and those kinds of blanket statements only make today's antagonistic environment worse, never better.

I’ve lived in the Middle East for 11 years, so I know a little more than you, and this is not some gross generalization. I’ve witnessed it, black Arabs have told me about their experiences, and other Arabs have discussed it with me. This is not ‘blathering’ but something that actually happens. I did not say all Arabs; I said many.

What my Arab friends tell me is that American blacks are the most racist people they have met in their lives.

Not American whites or Latinos. Blacks.

Maybe your friends aren’t hiding their racism very well.

DP. I believe we see colorist attitudes and racism everywhere but I also think it’s a total lie to say that in some pockets, on an individual level, that African-Americans don’t engage in hideous behavior against others on the basis of race. Come on.

NT was absolutely in the wrong and anyone who wants someone disciplined for truly petty BS is a person I don’t want to know. All of that can be true without her getting the brunt of the She’s a racist! overreaction. I think she’d have done the same tweet-shaming of a white male WMATA employee.