This past week, the internet exploded over a video showing two young women at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) making monkey noises in a doorcam on their way out (or perhaps on their way in) for the evening. Having seen the videos, one suspects that alcohol was involved.
I’ve heard competing narratives about the true intentions of the young women. (According to one account, they made these noises at multiple, random doors.)
But for the sake of argument, let’s just assume that this was a puerile racist joke.
Administration authorities at Ole Miss could have handled this incident. It wasn’t a mass murder. It wasn’t even an assault. It was a stupid prank that might have been racially motivated. Yes, there should have been consequences. But the world wasn’t coming to an end.
The righteous indignation of the internet, however, would not be silenced. Every other person on social media decided that they had to make a video or a Facebook post about how much this incident enraged them. Many pearls were clutched.
As a result, at least one of the young women who made the monkey noises, Lauren Mayfield, became a cause célèbre for certain factions on the political right. An online fundraiser was started in her name.
According to the most recent figure I’ve seen, the fundraiser has brought in $87,000. It could go as high as $200,000.
Lauren Mayfield’s academic career at Ole Miss may have come to an end, but she’ll be making a tidy sum in exchange.
What outrages deserve the bulk of our attention? What should trigger us the most?
Also this past week, in Mahoning County, Ohio, a 15-year-old girl was beaten to near unconsciousness on a school bus by one of her peers.
This incident also had a racial dynamic. But this time, the racial dynamic did not fit the popular, politically fashionable narrative. And so the beating of a 15-year-old girl was virtually ignored, while the internet went insane over monkey noises.
-ET