I'm curious what everyone's thoughts are on the new age of mob justice where most revelations of any past misconduct or distasteful speech by a famous person (politician, actor, news anchor, CEO, etc) are met with calls for them to lose their job.

For the sake of this discussion, it's best to stick to topics where the past misconduct or statements are not felonies because I think that would end up in a derail. So more along the lines of a Jemele Hill/Curt Schilling situation and not cases where sexual assault are being claimed. I guess sexual misconduct and some less severe claims of sexual harassment could be fair game for this discussion (stuff that isn't a felony but inappropriate) but I'm afraid that's just opening a can of worms and not what this thread is about.

Even a more over the top sports example like Donald Sterling where an old owner of an NBA team is secretly recorded saying racist things. Doubt anyone in here would think what he said was anything but nasty, but is forcing him to lose his ownership the appropriate action? If someone seems like they harbor prejudice or are just an all around unpleasant human, is that a good enough reason for the mob to call for their livelihood to be stripped?

Of course, people have a right to boycott and group together to pressure companies to make people step down, but do you think they should do this so often or is this a tool that has gotten out of control? It's one thing to boycott a restaurant that is not serving a certain group of people out of prejudice. It's another thing to demand a boycott because a CEO said something distasteful.

I'm sure nearly everyone would agree there are some occasions where it is appropriate for someone to be fired for misconduct outside of the workplace but I want to focus the discussion on the general trend and not the over the top and clear cut situations.

Taking away a persons job is a pretty strange and serious way to handle things and I wonder if envy is part of what is going on when people just want to strip a successful person of that success when they perceive any kind of misconduct. Put them in their place so to say. If the same conduct is made by a line worker at a steel factory, calls for them to be fired would be few and far between.

What do you guys think of the new era of social media backed mob justice? Is it a force for good making people accountable and straightening out poor behavior or do you see it as a potentially dangerous development?

I hope this is relatively non-partisan. The mob certainly exists on all sides and with similar tactics so hopefully this thread doesn't devolve into a pitting of groups against each other as I'm genuinely interested in what people think about this issue.

I think dudes should stop groping women so much.

Mobs are now called public opinion and with the advent of the Internet, it is getting much worse because a lot more people can jump on the bandwagon and swell the ranks, so whoever can steer public opinion wields so much power, lol.

Kind of hard to discuss without any concrete examples. You haven’t offered any evidence of what you call mob justice or of this supposed trend.

... is the only justice powerful people will ever face. The traditional justice system exempts powerful people; "we have a government of men not of laws", etc.

It's the beginning of the end for unsavory dudes that have made problems go away with money their entire careers. Law enforcement and bureaucracies only desire to cover their own asses. Billionaires have been equated to 'psychopaths' for ages, yet their position is still taught to be desired. This will change, Mafioso 4 life.

This is perhaps the platonic ideal of "telling on oneself".

I did offer three sports world examples. Jemele Hill, Curt Schilling, and Donald Sterling.



I agree. But I tried to make clear that this thread isn't about those issues. Last time I checked, assault was a felony..

But I'm more curious what you think about instances where someone simply says something you dislike or is revealed to have said something 20 years ago you dislike, etc. And I am genuinely wondering if you think going after their livelihood is the appropriate response.

If you're arguing that the legal system is rigged in favor of the powerful, I agree and that's terrible. But I'm trying to steer this topic to instances that aren't even legal in nature. Old guy says nasty things in private recording. News anchor tweets something people don't like. Stuff like that that leads to public demands for them to be fired or resign.

That is not evidence of mob justice or any kind of trend.

You didn’t even give details of the incidents, much less how they are mob justice.

Free market bro

Hoo boy, the mask is slipping here.

Sorry, I thought those were pretty well know stories. Jemele Hill tweeted some anti trump stuff and his supports called for her firing. Curt Schilling posted something (don't remember exact details) on FB that seemed pretty nasty about the whole transgender bathroom issue and ESPN fired him.

Donald Sterling was the owner of the LA clippers. He apparently was well known to be a jerk and seemed a bit off his rocker as well. His GF who was like 50 years younger than him secretly recorded him saying some racist stuff in an attempt to profit. When the tapes came out, the mob eventually forced him into selling the team.


As I said, people have a right to do this. I'm not arguing with that. I'm asking if you think going after someones livelihood is the appropriate response when you think someone said something terrible.

Wrt Sterling, internet mobs can’t force people to do anything. Trump has shown us that shame simply doesn’t matter anymore.

Not sure I agree. Internet mobs have massive power in all directions. The issue with Sterling is that he was the owner of an NBA team in LA, not a rodeo in the middle of nowhere. Pressuring advertisers works really well these days.

Trump certainly played the mob game to his advantage since he can afford to piss off 50% of the public and win. But an owner of a business that relies on sponsors can be much more susceptible to pissing off 50% of people.

There are, however, people getting rich off saying things that piss off one side or another because the side they are on rallies around them. There is massive power in large groups. It does play itself out differently depending on the circumstances.


BTW, I think my OP kind of sucks. Was too ambiguous and so it becomes likely the question I really wanted to address gets missed. Too late to edit. My bad there but I do think my general question is reasonably clear at this point and I honestly just want to hear what you guys think.

Obviously it depends but yeah it easily can be.

I tried to make it clear that it "can be". I am asking if you think it's an overused or abused power of the mob? Rarely, sometimes, often, never?

Anyway, if this is not a topic you guys find interesting to discuss, no problem. As I said, my OP was pretty poor but I think my general question is clear. I'll bow out and mods can feel free to close the thread if it seems like no interesting discussion comes from it.

This isn't what happened with the Sterlings. They were bought out, at a record price, by their fellow NBA owners. No "mob" involved.

I guess you don't eat in restaurants... I've seen several customers try to get servers fired because they thought they were rude, as in saying something those customers thought was terrible to them. Happens all the time here in the home of at-will employment. One of the reasons LGBTQ folk stay in the closet... you guessed it, fear of the boss thinking that coming out is saying something terrible. Not saying you are not a Christian, not saying you are against the war de-jour... both of these have been important skills to have to stay employed too over the years.

In fact, things now are much, much, much, better in the US now than in the past. Maybe check out this old movie ...

What do you expect to happen w/ regards to someone who is going to tarnish the product? Entertainers are easily replaced. Politicians are on their own. Employees are expected to behave appropriately. And everyone knows the rules. I think that some people have a 'the rules were different then' mentality but what's happening now, seemingly on a daily basis, is the only thing that can happen.

You're asking a loaded question instead of saying you think mob justice is out of hand. Of course people aren't going to seriously discuss this with you.

I do think it's the case that a lot of businesses are regrettably spineless and amoral, such that they're happy to employ racists and predators when they don't make waves, and then quick to dump them when they become controversial. It works out to a kind of rough justice in some cases, but it has obvious failure modes when people become controversial even though they haven't done anything wrong.

One might notice that his three tenuous examples(2 of which had a ****load of other context he's excluding, and the third didn't get fired she got like suspended from Tweeting for a week after she criticized a business partner) all involve someone doing something and then immediately getting in trouble.

But he keeps going back to the 20 years ago thing. Unless he's referencing Roy Moore, not sure what that is about.

Also, insideman, I think the issue is that you're obviously arguing in bad faith because you're worried about you personally might get written up if someone at work overheard you saying what you really think about black people. I guess what you wanted was someone to join you on the "no consequences for white men, ever" position? Tough break, buddy.

lol why do these people always go right to donald sterling

never mind I know the answer

It's an absolute mystery to me how guys who are clearly invested in a self image as the Objective Rational Facts-user can't even be bothered to put in the tiniest effort at maintaining the con. Lying is really ****ing easy! Just instead of writing your honest beliefs, write some other ****.

Of course Donald Sterling deserved to lose his franchise. Black kids coming out of college are literally drafted by the owners and can ONLY work for him if they want to play professional basketball. And he acts like a ****ing plantation owner with them. He deserved real mob justice, not the PC mob justice that OP wants to whine about.