FTW editor alleges a bunch of stuff after USA Today fires her over tweet

[wicked]

We have a history in this country of black people doing whatever they could to "pass" as white (because our society sucked).

Kids may lie on their FAFSA and say they're 1/256th Native American or Pacific Islander to get a few extra bucks (they should, the college realm can be a racket). Often it's white kids who do it! That is far different than saying "I'm not white and don't want to be considered white ever."

 

[WriteThinking]

The whole problem is that this was an example of poor journalism, as stated right up-front by Jhaveri herself:

On Monday night, I sent a tweet responding to the fact that mass shooters are most likely to be white men. It was a dashed off over-generalization, tweeted after pictures of the shooter being taken into custody surfaced online. It was a careless error of judgement, sent at a heated time, that doesn't represent my commitment to racial equality... I regret sending it. I apologized and deleted the tweet.

It was careless. There was certainly bad judgement involved. It was sent out immediately, in the heat of the moment and without thought. All definitely journalistic no-no's. Any real or perceived racism, biases or opinions didn't even need to be factored in. This is a stark and problematic-but-accurate illustration of the fundamental differences between the natures and uses of journalism and Twitter.

And, just another thought/question I had: Could a white person ever fill a position such as the one Hemal Jhaveri held? Would one ever be hired for it?

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Obviously mass shootings can be defined in different ways, but generally speaking it's black men -- not white men -- who commit a disproportionate number of them.

So not only was her tweet racist, it was wrong.

If she had said, "it's always a man," she would have at least been accurate, because except in extremely rare cases, it is a man.

That's an absurdly misleading argument.

There have been about 30 mass shootings in the past 70 years that killed at least ten people.

By my count two of the gunmen were Black. Vast, vast majority were white.

 

[justgladtobehere]

That's an absurdly misleading argument.

There have been about 30 mass shootings in the past 70 years that killed at least ten people.

By my count two of the gunmen were Black. Vast, vast majority were white.

The studies people cite, however, define mass murder as killings with 3 or 4 victims. The argument is that as set out by the terms of the studies, whites are not disproportionately shooters.

You are raising a different argument. Why are high casualty shootings committed by white men?

 

[PCLoadLetter]

The studies people cite, however, define mass murder as killings with 3 or 4 victims. The argument is that as set out by the terms of the studies, whites are not disproportionately shooters.

You are raising a different argument. Why are high casualty shootings committed by white men?

We're not talking about 3 or more. She wasn't tweeting about a shooting involving three people. She was tweeting about a shooting involving ten dead. To pretend it is more likely to be a Black gunman is absolutely false.

Why white guys? Don't know.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

And honestly... if one of her white colleagues had tweeted "Probably a Muslim guy" and it turned out to be a white guy and then deleted the tweet and apologized.... would she think that was enough?

We all know this answer (which is why it is posted). Of all people, she should know better than any of us not to go there.

 

[cake in the rain]

That's an absurdly misleading argument.

There have been about 30 mass shootings in the past 70 years that killed at least ten people.

By my count two of the gunmen were Black. Vast, vast majority were white.

Again, I hate to keep renewing this largely pointless anecdotal argument, especially since we have actual studies and don't have to rely on anecdote...But I just took 2 minutes on Wikipedia and found 3 black men among the top 20, which is already a disproportionately high number. The group also includes shooters of Korean, Afghan, Pakistani (maybe?), Chinese and Vietnamese descent. So it's a real melting pot, even in the top 20 alone.

Like I said, if you want to make a sweeping generalization, the safest one to make would be "Men" as they represent roughly 50 percent of the population and yet commit close to 100 percent of mass shootings (and a high proportion of violent crime in general).

 

[tapintoamerica]

Or perhaps looked at this link beforehand.

Mass shooting database

There seems to be very little agreement on what constitutes a "mass shooting." The link below says there have been 121 such events in the US since 1982. Of them, 66 are said to have been committed by white people and 21 by black shooters.
I do agree that you're asking for trouble if you Tweet that white men are responsible for these things "every single time."
Mass shootings by shooter's race in the U.S. 2021 | Statista

 

[justgladtobehere]

We're not talking about 3 or more. She wasn't tweeting about a shooting involving three people. She was tweeting about a shooting involving ten dead. To pretend it is more likely to be a Black gunman is absolutely false.

Why white guys? Don't know.

No, we are talking about 3 or more. The studies that people cite set that criterion.

Find a study of larger mass shootings and it can be discussed.

 

[cake in the rain]

We're not talking about 3 or more. She wasn't tweeting about a shooting involving three people. She was tweeting about a shooting involving ten dead. To pretend it is more likely to be a Black gunman is absolutely false.

Why white guys? Don't know.

No one ever said that is more likely to be a black gunman.

But blacks are disproportionately more likely and whites disproportionately less likely to be mass shooters using virtually any definition.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

Super country we've got here, where there's so many mass shootings we get to argue over the demographics of the shooters.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

Super country we've got here, where there's so many mass shootings we get to argue over the demographics of the shooters.

Brings new light to the term "embarrassment of riches."