Tsunamis, Race, Religion, Freedom of Speech, and Viral Trolls

[cfmonkey45]

Sorry for the long title, but it was between either that or "Why Women Shouldn't Post on the Internet."

So, in case anyone hasn't been active on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, or basically the internet, internet history seems to have been made with some of the fastest and harshest response to two troll videos taking place within the same 24 hour period.

I thought that since these both touch on incredibly sensitive issues (religion, race, freedom of speech, and internet privacy) that it'd be relevant for discussion in the EM&M.



So basically, I have a few questions that I wanted to ask everyone here:

1. Considering that both YouTubers had death threats and serious ramifications placed against them, do you think that, even at some level, this is a secular, western correlation to both "Everybody Draw Muhammed Day" and the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy?
2. Do you think that the response, ranging from death threats, to posting of personal information, to prank calls, and the rest of the hype are worse than the initial video?
3. Do you think that both these young women crossed a line that shouldn't have been crossed, or is this protected by freedom of speech?
4. Given that we now know "tamtampamela" is not religious, or at least not the devout Christian she alleges to be, do you think that the amount and type of response is still justified, or that since it's unapologetically offensive satire it still deserves the same backlash?
5. Do you think it is disturbing that with the advent of the internet that one's privacy can be so easily compromised by complete strangers? If so, do you think that society should step in to protect individual privacy?

Troll Videos

Racist UCLA Student

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

First one is first. A UCLA student by the name of Alexandra Wallace decided that it would be a good idea to post a troll video on YouTube making racist and anti-Asian remarks the day after the 8.9 Earthquake hit Japan, and yelling at Asian students using their cell phones in the library during finals week (perhaps, unbeknowest to her, to contact relatives in Japan, a country that has over 10,000 confirmed casualties and billions of dollars in losses, not to mention a crippled reactor core that might meltdown).

From the Daily News

A UCLA student whose racist rant about Asians went viral over the weekend has received multiple death threats, school officials said.

Alexandra Wallace, a junior political science major, has sought the protection of campus police after she received several calls and emails from people threatening revenge for her recording the tirade, titled "Asians in the Library," UCLA's Daily Bruin newspaper reported.

"She recieved numerous phone messages and emails," school spokesman Phil Hampton told the Daily News. "Police are investigating to determine whether a crime was committed."

Wallace told political science Prof. Phil Gussin she was terrified after the locations of her upcoming exams were posted online, the paper said.

Campus cops advised her to reschedule her exams in light of the threats.

In the video, posted Friday, Wallace fumes about "the hordes of Asian people" at UCLA as well as their families, whom she claims invade her apartment building every weekend to pamper the spoiled students.

Wallace also trashes Asians for talking on the phone in the library and imitates a student by babbling, "Ohhhh! Ching chong ling long ting tong!"

A university spokesman called the video "repugnant" on Sunday, and hundreds of outraged students and alumni flooded Chancellor Gene Block's Facebook page with comments slamming Wallace.

The video hit the Web on the same day that an earthquake and tsunami rocked Japan, killing thousands and leaving millions without food, water or shelter.

Wallace apologized for the video in a letter to the school's Daily Bruin newspaper on Monday, the paper reported.

"Clearly the original video posted by me was inappropriate," she said in the statement. "I cannot explain what possessed me to approach the subject as I did, and if I could undo it, I would. I'd like to offer my apology to the entire UCLA campus. For those who cannot find it within them to accept my apology, I understand."

Block called the incident "a sad day for UCLA."

"I am appalled by the thoughtless and hurtful comments of a UCLA student posted on YouTube," he said in a statement. "I believe that speech that expresses intolerance toward any group of people … is indefensible and has no place at UCLA."

Wallace has not been kicked out of the school, Hampton said, but the dean of students was considering disciplining her.

"The dean of students has been in touch with her and is balancing her First Amendment rights and rights of freedom of expression in weighing whether there was a violation of the code of conduct," Hampton told the Daily News.

An article by the The Asian Pacific Coalition at UCLA published in the Daily Bruin on Sunday called the video "hate speech" and "harassment," but also called for tolerance.

"As a community, we should respond with the grace, sensitivity and civility afforded us through the manners we learned from our parents, and their parents before them," the coalition wrote.

The reference appeared to be a subtle dig at the buxom blond, who ranted that Asian students needed to "use American manners" and described herself as a "polite, nice American girl that my momma raised me to be."

Gussin said he was frustrated by the campus' violent response.

"What Wallace did was hurtful and inexcusable, but the response has been far more egregious," he told the Bruin. "She made a big mistake, and she knows it, but … they responded with greater levels of intolerance."



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...#ixzz1GioSJajn

Faux-Christian Zealot

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Basically, same , different broad and against Christians. What the article doesn't report, but is referenced in her video is that Anonymous found her information (her real name is Pamela), including her address and phone number, and sent her death threats along with take-out food, such as pizza and chinese food (the strategy is to order the most expensive items, send them to the victim's house, and leave them with paying the bill. If done enough times, this can lead to a total bill of several hundred, if not thousands of dollars).

Source: http://www.socialtimes.com/2011/03/y...troll-tsunami/

You thought Alexandra Wallace was bad? Meet Pamela aka Tamtampamela aka “what the heck were you thinking?!” Pamela has been trolling YouTube for awhile now, but she went to far with her latest video. Posing as a devout Christian, Pamela thought it would be funny to post a video about how great God is for answering her prayers to open the eyes of atheists by “shaking the country of Japan”.

That’s right—Pamela thought it would be a good idea to post a video as a “joke”, called ‘God Is So Good!”thanking God for showing Japanese atheists who’s boss. The original video was taken down, but I’ve got a screenshot of the description on the original video, in which she writes, “Praise God for answered prayers!!! God answered us after just 1 day of fasting and praying! He rattled the atheists in Japan!! The rest of the world better be ready! 1 day of prayer – 9.0 earthquake in Japan! I can’t even begin to imagine what 40 days of prayer will do!”

Just like with Alexandra Wallace yesterday, Pamela (if that’s her real name) (Actually it is, Anonymous found it, along with her phone numer, address, and SSN (I think), and has been sending pizzas to her for the last 24 hours took the video down, but it was too late.

Now, a lot of people have been responding to our post on Alexandra Wallace, the UCLA student who uploaded a racist rant about Asians in the Library and is now suffering the consequences, talking about her right to speak her mind. People brought up free speech and said she had the right to speak her mind. That being said, I think she should have thought twice before posting her video to YouTube.

But YouTube Troll Pamela took things to a whole new level. She didn’t speak her mind or what she believes, apparently. Just hours before she took her account down from YouTube she uploaded a new video, in which she admits to being a troll. She says, “I’ve been making troll videos for awhile now, but this last one seems to have pissed off a lot of people, which was my intention, but at this point I’m kinda tired of pizza so I’m gonna let the cat out of the bag.”

You’ll notice that Pamela doesn’t even apologize for the disgusting video that she uploaded about the tsunami. In fact, she says, “It was fun”. However, shortly after the second video was uploaded she started getting death threats, which is apparently the reason she took the video down.

As you can imagine, Tamtampamela’s videos have spawned an onslaught of video responses, including a disco remix. Yesterday I wanted to give Alexandra Wallace the benefit of the doubt, but I just can’t do that with Tamtampamela. Trolling is no excuse to be disgusting. How could a person think that this would be a good idea?

In a response video, one viewer talks about his feelings after finding out that Tamtampamela was a troll and that her account was taken down because she received death threats. He says, “I wouldn’t wish death threats on anyone in the world. It’s a horrible thing in itself, but I’m not surprised, if you’re posting something like that, whether your serious or you’re being a troll, don’t be surprised if you get death threats.” This viewer says that it’s good that she took the video down, but in the future he hopes that she (and other YouTubers) won’t post anything like this because it’s way too dangerous. He brings up a very good point. Not only does uploading content like this hurt your reputation, but it could endanger you physically as well. Scary stuff.

What do you think about what Tamtampamela did? Do you think she deserves the death threats and backlash?

What I think is interesting to note is that both videos achieved viral status merely hours apart from each other, accumulated over 500,000+ views in less than 24 hours, and spawned an incredibly heated reaction and polarizing reaction from, on one hand, the Asian American Community, and ironically on the other, the various Atheist communities on the internet.

Personally, what I find fascinating is how quickly the response manifested itself, almost like a knee-jerk reaction, and how emotional they've become, with the first even scoring a place on Primetime TV the same day. I also think that there's an even more fascinating, and horrifying, precedent being set, that someone, so quickly, can have their lives destroyed by both hackers, their friends, and the internet.

[Squiggle]

So basically, I have a few questions that I wanted to ask everyone here:

1. Considering that both YouTubers had death threats and serious ramifications placed against them, do you think that, even at some level, this is a secular, western correlation to both "Everybody Draw Muhammed Day" and the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy?

1. Uh, no. The death threats are never going to be carried out, no degree of violence is. Situations like this have come and gone a hundred times in the past, people rage and everyone moves on. Hell, half the time the rage is in fact a thinly veiled excuse just to be a jackass, like in the case of 4chan.

2. Do you think that the response, ranging from death threats, to posting of personal information, to prank calls, and the rest of the hype are worse than the initial video?

[Central Asian Qaghan]

Really, most of the information 4chan and the like discover on these people [admittedly some is hacking, which is illegal and the laws should be enforced] is just taking crap off their facebook which they keep open to the world. Or twitter, or what not.

4Chan does what it thinks is right. If you're a hardcore Christian and piss 4Chan off, then I support their right to do whatever they want to you. You don't even have to be a Christian. Just piss 4Chan off and they will serve you up a nice hot plate of justice. I support!

[hellheaven1987]

This is far better than some anti-Japan propoganda that happen in Taiwan now, some are even began by some Taiwanese politicians.

[Squiggle]

4Chan does what it thinks is right. If you're a hardcore Christian and piss 4Chan off, then I support their right to do whatever they want to you. You don't even have to be a Christian. Just piss 4Chan off and they will serve you up a nice hot plate of justice. I support!

Why would you support that? I dont MIND it too excessively since the people out there making ridiculous claims, to a certain extent, put themselves out there knowing the consequences and are adults and should understand that. However, 4chan is just a collection of random people...sometimes they stop child molesters, sometimes they jump on atheists trolling religion and badmouthing God, sometimes they jump on charity workers or just ordinary individuals...

You cant "support" 4chan because by the nature of what it is, is an undirected force of bored, apathetic, cynical, malicious and sometimes bigoted assortment of young males from all walks of life across the world.

[removeduser_487563287433]

their right to do whatever they want to you

That's not a right.

[black-dragon]

I'm half Asian and I didn't find any of that offensive. Though I didn't go over all the details...and I personally don't find racist comments very insulting in the first place.

Having said that, Pamela not only acts like a troll, but she looks like one too.

[removeduser_487563287433]

Buuuuuuuuurn