A Twitter Vigilante Is Outing Charlottesville Rally Racists

[Lazy Daisy]

http://www.newnownext.com/charlottesville-rally-yes-youre-racist-twitter/08/2017/

I'm usually not a fan of people getting fired because they exercise their first amendment rights. But in this instance it's not difficult to go against my own beliefs. Out them all. Should put up a page like they do with sex offenders. We all deserve to know if we have this filth in our neighborhood.

[underpants]

1. Spread your hate via the internet, feel the pain of the internet

[Coventina]

2. We're talking about Nazis. Americans used to kill them.

I think doxxing them is just fine.

[Lazy Daisy]

4. wasn't familiar with the term doxxing

looked it up. You are exactly right. People need to know who they are. Co-workers, neighbors, etc are all less safe when these people can hide.

[Dustlawyer]

55. Let them have the courage of their convictions

Lots of convictions!

[Mariana]

25. This isn't even really doxxing.

They weren't on a private website using pseudonyms. They weren't trying to hide. These people went out in public and they intentionally attracted attention to themselves. In doing so, they had no reasonable expectation of privacy. They also knew there were cameras on them. There is nothing wrong with making their identities widely known. If they'd had their event on private property, behind closed doors, there may be a concern about whether it's right to out them.

[Coventina]

29. Good point. n/t

[BadgerMom]

31. You are correct.

The First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech but not freedom from consequences of that speech. No less an expert than Lawrence Tribe tweeted today that First Amendment rights aren't limitless, either.

[Towlie]

43. This has nothing to do with Freedom of Speech. And by the way, @YesYoureRacist is NOT a vigilante.

vig·i·lan·te
ˌvijəˈlan(t)ē/
noun
noun: vigilante; plural noun: vigilantes

a member of a self-appointed group of citizens who undertake law enforcement in their community without legal authority, typically because the legal agencies are thought to be inadequate.

[Amaryllis]

63. I was just thinking about that; remember Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law CEnter and the

class action suit against the KKK, and wasn't there also one against white supremacists? The basic premise was that if hate speech promotes violence, it is no longer a right.

[LAS14]

66. Absolutely! Freedom of speech doesn't mean we don't fight abhorent...

.... speech with every legal means at our disposal. And this sure strikes me as legal!!!

[YCHDT]

60. +1

[mcar]

3. Actions have consequences

I look forward to all these racist cowards facing the consequences of their filthy actions.

[sheshe2]

9. Don't be so mean to the snowflakes, mcar.

They are the superior race after all.

I am thrilled two of the men that beat Deandre almost to death have already been arrested. Driver arrested. Twitter identifying the Nazis and one has already lost their job.

Justice.

[mcar]

16. I know, she. Bless their hearts

I hope they all pay a big price for their hate.

[sheshe2]

18. So do I mcar.

[DonViejo]

44. + ten katrillion...

Enjoyed reading this chat between you two DU'ers; thanks for sharing it with us. Totally agree with what you've both said.

[SCVDem]

23. Finally some good news

Thanks for the update!

[sheshe2]

61. You are welcome, SVC.

We need the good news.

[Homer Wells]

48. Love the irony

Those clowns who claim superiority are among the most inferior examples their so called race.

[sheshe2]

62. You got that right, Homer.

[Baitball Blogger]

5. Isn't that odd that the KKK had more awareness of shame to hide their faces?

Is this new batch dumb or what?

[brush]

7. They are dumb. They thought trump legitimized their hatred. WRONG.

Their faces are all over the internet now.

[Lazy Daisy]

11. They're not dumb, they're brazen

They're proud of it. They think they're right and don't care. I think that makes them more dangerous than KKK

[Amaryllis]

64. They are martyrs for the cause if they are fired, etc; similar to Jihad.

[NastyRiffraff]

21. They just believed Dump

when he told them he'd make their bail if they attacked protesters at his rallies. Like cockroaches at night, they're crawling out of the woodwork because Dump gave them permission to show themselves.

Yeah, guys, you just wait for Dump to pay your bail, get your job back, force people to be friends with you again, forbid people to mock you. Right.

[paleotn]

49. The ironic thing was, here in the south

particularly in rural counties and small towns, people knew who the kluckers were, but they still hid their faces with hoods while in "costume" and operated in the dark of night. Dumb, that's got to be it.

[grantcart]

6. I can help you with your moral reservations.

Despite the title in the article this is not "outing", its identifying.

They are simply identifying people who participated in a mob who are trying to take advantage of anonymity to express un American ideas.

If they want to demonstrate their evil intentions in public then they should expect to be identified.

Their employers are perfectly entitled to know if their employees are support illegal movements against the government. This group was not simply expressing their political ideas they were honouring the Confederate traitors who tried to destroy the government.

As they AP reports they would like another shot at secession,

https://apnews.com/a2962ecaab7d444d87cd74bf87bfdfff/Secessionists-push-for-South-to-break-away-from-US-again?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosam&stream=top-stories

[Lazy Daisy]

12. Thank you

[whathehell]

28. Correct, they were not hiding..

Didn't even bother with the white sheets.

[Dreamer Tatum]

8. Since no one is ever wrong about anything

this is an excellent idea.

[cwydro]

13. Lol.

True dat.

[ChubbyStar]

17. Ahhh you have feelings for the deplorables

How kind you are! Me, I say fuck them. Read your profile......

[cwydro]

32. No, I have feelings for my fellow DUer, who made a clever remark.

Welcome to DU. Enjoy your stay.

[ChubbyStar]

47. Thanks for the welcome!

[sarisataka]

10. The reason I cannot support this

Is that many times and innocent person has been miss identified and gets their life ruined because of it.[

[Warren DeMontague]

15. I don't think anyone has been mis-identified, here.

Not that I've seen.

[sarisataka]

20. This time...

Yet...

[Warren DeMontague]

24. What has been happening, what I've seen, is matching up these guys with known

alt-right twitter accounts or previously identifications at similar protests.

In that vein, it seems very unlikely that someone is going to just be picked at random and identified as one of these nazis just because they bear a resemblance to these bland-looking khaki motherfuckers.

I'm against vigilantism, too. But I'm also not in favor of letting these assholes slide. As I outlined in my other post, this goes beyond just your run of the mill political disagreement. Support Trump, oppose immigration, whatever... yeah, as a general practice I don't think running around trying to identify people in political rallies is a good idea or at all warranted.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=9455865

But carrying a torch around a Nazi rally carries a very specific connotation, and if someone is willing to make that statement publicly they don't get to go and hide and pretend it didn't happen. They have a right to their speech, but they shouldn't be surprised when they have to own it.

[sarisataka]

77. Mistakes are made and

Innocent people suffer the consequences. It is not unlikely, it seems to happen every time-

After a day of work at the Engineering Research Center at the University of Arkansas, Kyle Quinn had a pleasant Friday night in Bentonville with his wife and a colleague. They explored an art exhibition at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and dined at an upscale restaurant.

Then on Saturday, he discovered that social media sleuths had incorrectly identified him as a participant in a white nationalist rally some 1,100 miles away in Charlottesville, Va. Overnight, thousands of strangers across the country had been working together to share photographs of the men bearing Tiki torches on the University of Virginia campus. They wanted to name and shame them to their employers, friends and neighbors. In a few cases, they succeeded.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/08/14/us/charlottesville-doxxing.html

[LanternWaste]

78. "Mistakes are made and Innocent people suffer the consequences..." Like guns, eh?

"Mistakes are made and Innocent people suffer the consequences..."

Does not that premise apply to all things? If so, what is the precise and relevant measure of difference in the instance of attempting to identify someone versus all other things in which mistakes are made and innocent people suffer?

[sarisataka]

79. It does apply to all things

And Justice should follow due process, not be handed out via the Internet or a vigilante mob.

Not really sure what guns have to do with this.

[Warren DeMontague]

80. You're right. That's not cool.

On the flip side, however, due to internet sleuthing it seems as though a few of the people involved in assaulting Deandre Harris have been identified. Far from being chased by a "vigilante mob", the information seems to have been forwarded to relevant authorities.

What are the odds that these people would have been caught, otherwise? Not terribly high, I think.

So it's possible that this kind of internet investigating can work together with justice, not just at cross-purposes.

[sarisataka]

81. That I can agree with.

The community working together to identify a criminal and allowing the justice system to work the way it's supposed to I see as a positive. That way if a person is mis- they can be cleared by the proper authorities before losing their job, getting death threats Etc.

It is only people taking matters into their own hands to decide what Justice is that I take issue with.

[SCVDem]

30. The vaccine argument.

That dog don't hunt!

[sarisataka]

75. You were saying...

After a day of work at the Engineering Research Center at the University of Arkansas, Kyle Quinn had a pleasant Friday night in Bentonville with his wife and a colleague. They explored an art exhibition at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and dined at an upscale restaurant.

Then on Saturday, he discovered that social media sleuths had incorrectly identified him as a participant in a white nationalist rally some 1,100 miles away in Charlottesville, Va. Overnight, thousands of strangers across the country had been working together to share photographs of the men bearing Tiki torches on the University of Virginia campus. They wanted to name and shame them to their employers, friends and neighbors. In a few cases, they succeeded.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/08/14/us/charlottesville-doxxing.html

[mythology]

50. Wrong. There was an incorrect id of the car owner

This is an incredibly stupid thing to be doing.

[Warren DeMontague]

52. Expecting people not to try and identify the car owner when the license plate was visible in photos

Is not only unrealistic, at the time it was a pressing law enforcement concern. Dude was still on the loose.

[paleotn]

51. It's actually pretty easy to prove

one wasn't in Charlottesville on Saturday and / or not involved in the ruckus. Thus, the chances of miss-id causing any serious damage is quite low. Thus, id away!!

[sarisataka]

76. It may be easy to prove

But the damage is done

“You have celebrities and hundreds of people doing no research online, not checking facts,” he said. “I’ve dedicated my life to helping all people, trying to improve health care and train the next generation of scientists, and this is potentially throwing a wrench in that.”

For someone whose only sin was a passing resemblance to someone else — the actual man in the Charlottesville photo has not been conclusively identified — Mr. Quinn bore the direct consequences of the reckless spread of misinformation in breaking news, a common ritual in modern news events.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/08/14/us/charlottesville-doxxing.html

[grantcart]

56. Really?

The source seems to be very careful and confirms the identity multiple ways.

He has been doing this since 2012. Do you have any support that this particular individual has misidentified anyone in that time?

https://www.patreon.com/yesyoureracist

[Warren DeMontague]

14. Given the history of the 20th century, carrying a flaming torch around a nazi/klan rally carries a

very specific connotation.

Someone who decides to engage in that speech is publicly aligning and allying themselves with genocidal mass murder and generations of unspeakable atrocities. They are making a voluntary statement of affirmative support, for those ideas.

They are saying, in no uncertain terms, "yeah, those people who herded mothers carrying crying newborns into gas chambers.. I'm on their side. The folks who left Emmett Till's body unrecognizable.. they have a point"

On a personal level, the goose-stepping and torch carrying ideology would have shipped me off to a death camp without a second thought. More importantly, to me, it would have done the same to everyone I love most in this world.

This is beyond mere political difference of opinion.

They have the 1st Amendment right to that speech, of course. I believe the genius and power of the 1st Amendment is the extent to which it protects even the worst, most noxious speech from government censorship.

But if you go out and publicly identify yourself as a fucking Nazi, don't be surprised when no one wants to hire you or be associated with you.

[Wednesdays]

70. Nazi flaming torches

[Warren DeMontague]

71. Exactly. And a lot of good, patriotic Americans died to stop that shit.

Anyone who carries a torch at a Nazi rally has lost their ability to call themselves an American.

[LAS14]

19. This is great!

The constitution protects free speech. It doesn't protect hate speakers from being identified to all and sundry. It doesn't protect them from being spoken at right back!

[dalton99a]

22. Terrorists must be exposed. Give them the publicity they seek and deserve.

[Squinch]

26. We MUST not call them vigilantes. IN NO WAY is this vigilantism!!!

The marchers marched in order to broadcast their beliefs. They went out and bought tiki torches and matching outfits so that they would look good when the photos were taken. THEY went out with the aim of getting publicity.

We are simply giving it to them.

Vigilantism is taking the law into one's own hands. THIS IS NOT THAT.

This is simply giving them the attention that they set out to get. It is not on us that they didn't have a clue how much everyone hates their message.

[cwydro]

33. Well said. nt

[roamer65]

68. .

[More_Cowbell]

27. This guy has some pretty clear pictures of people who physically assaulted other people

https://twitter.com/ShaunKing

Some of these people are recognizable because of their clothes. I wonder if that's why so many of these jerks wore khakis and white shirts -- to be less identifiable?

[Roland99]

65. Bunch of cowards. Armed, armored, shielded. Attacking unarmed, unprotected protestors

[LW1977]

34. For a bunch white supremacists, they sure love their Polynesian torches.

[DinahMoeHum]

37. . . .torches made in China. . .

[smirkymonkey]

35. Good.

Serves them right.

[Fritz Walter]

36. They have un-hooded themselves

The free speech rights conveyed by the First Amendment only apply to government prosecution, not civil consequences of yelling "movie" in a crowded fire house. Or vice versa.

By "outing" their own identities, they have exposed themselves to the consequences of their own words and actions.

So, If their employers evoke their legal right to discharge them for casting their paycheck-source in a very unfavorable light, so be it. "Suck it up, buttercup!"

Perhaps they can find gainful employment in construction, agriculture and other careers that have recently opened up with the threat of deporting workers who have taken jobs that white folks have shunned in the past. Just so long as they show up when and where they're needed, do their fucking jobs without whining, and clean up afterwards, I'd say "Go for it."

[ananda]

38. Excellent!

And those fucked up haters are now seeing real consequences!

[Pauldg47]

39. Try making it a law... Call congress and trump out on this..

...see who's for it or against it.

[ProudLib72]

40. Very good

It would be morally irresponsible not to identify them. If a known criminal is on the streets, we get alerts. What is the difference here? None that I can tell. So when does the MSM pick this up and start running their pics with complete information on the front page of every newspaper?

[broadcaster90210]

41. Good.

nt

[zentrum]

42. They are traitors of

...the worst kind.

Flush them out.

[paleotn]

45. No offense intended, but......

Peter Cvjetanovic? And HE'S a white supremist? After the absolute hell his immigrant ancestors went through upon relatively recently arriving on our shining shores, perpetrated by nativists? Are you f'ing kidding me? Sure, white supremist ideology is the purview of those with just a few neurons rattling around in their heads, but good lord in heaven! My Y chromosome is 4th generation born in the US, but the rest of my genome is pre-Revolution. If anyone has a right to tell HIM to get the fuck out of my country, it's me. But ironically, I don't roll that way. Everyone is welcome. Everyone. Even very, very misguided progeny of recent immigrants..ie. anyone who showed up later than the 18th century.

[JohnnyRingo]

46. "Lost his job at The Top Dog resturaunt".

That'll set him back. hahahaha

I don't mind that this twitter warrior is outing people who aren't supposed to be ashamed of their hatred, but it places a great onus on not being wrong in his identification.

Unfortunately, he's relying on the community to name them and that can be liable to error.

[mdbl]

54. I wonder if he really will be fired

check out this weirdo page at that company

http://www.topdoghotdogs.com/propergander.html

[grantcart]

58. Actually its one individual who has been doing it since 2012 and seems to have

a very good record.

https://twitter.com/YesYoureRacist

I find it interesting that Kurt Eichenwald is directing traffic to his site.

[Dawson Leery]

53. I would not give them a pile of s**t to eat

if I saw one of them homeless under and overpass.

[AllaN01Bear]

57. need input please .what is doxxing? do not know doxxing.

[niyad]

74. as I understand it, releasing names, personal information like address, phone, employment.

[grantcart]

59. I object to the word Vigilante

He is a citizen investigator who has been doing this a long time, he is not taking any vigilante action against these individuals.

I find it interesting that Kurt Eichenwald is directing traffic to his site:

https://twitter.com/YesYoureRacist

Besides that thanks for the OP and the link. I wish him luck.

[roamer65]

69. They chose not to wear hoods.

Fuck 'em.

[oasis]

72. These nitwits felt emboldened to come out and throw their weight around.

The emulation of their hero, Trump will be the cause of their undoing. Dumb shits.

[niyad]

73. first amendment rights--let us remember that applies to the GOVERNMENT not interfering.

nowhere in the first amendment is there anything about their bosses or friends taking exception to the racist, hate-filled crap they spew.