Too drained to go on Facebook this week? Terrified of what you’d find by logging onto Twitter? Spent a week devoted to self-care by taking a social media break? Don’t fret! With Her Campus Ryerson’s new Weekly Media Roundup, we’ll keep you caught up and in the loop with all of the memes and pertinent social issues you might have missed out on.
1. United Airlines infringed on a paying customer’s basic human rights.
On Monday, the Internet righteously exploded after a video spread of a man being dragged off a United flight by Chicago police as other passengers looked on, horrified.
News spread that he was being forcibly removed from his seat because the airline had (allegedly, but actually not really at all) overbooked the flight and needed four seats for crew members. David Dao was the fourth man asked to leave, but he refused on account of being a physician who needed to get to an appointment the next day. United, instead of, you know, upping the compensation fees given to passengers who agreed to leave, thought dragging Dao off to the point where he was bleeding, glasses askew, head knocking against armrests, was the better option for—ahem—re-accommodation.
Some journalists, digging for a story, gave Dao what one man called the “full black teenager treatment” (referring to the way black teenagers in the news are vilified and profiled with negative background information irrelevant to the story).
Reporter Lisa Fletcher said in a now-deleted tweet she was looking into the “troubled past” of the doctor, prompting some critical responses from fellow reporters.
United rightfully took the fall for this catastrophe, suffering nearly $1 billion in value loss. The Internet, as usual, had the final say, observing United’s unfortunate timing with an app update.
3. Sean Spicer made ignorant/stupid/anti-Semitic comments about the Holocaust… during Passover, no less.
On Tuesday, Spicer attempted to argue that Syrian President Bashar Assad was in fact worse than Adolf Hitler because 1. He didn’t “sink to use chemical weapons” and 2. He didn’t use gas “on his own people.” Not even the most intuitive human could attempt to understand how Spicer neglected to mention Hitler’s use of gas chambers to systematically kill Jewish citizens, so I won’t try either. But what particularly shocked viewers was his dismissal of Jewish German citizens as “not his own people.”
One savvy Twitter user tied together United’s blunder with Spicer’s comments because, oh yeah, Spicer also referred to concentration camps as “Holocaust centers.”
3. 13 Reasons Why sparked controversy and important discussion.
The new Netflix series, based off of Jay Asher’s 2007 book, follows Clay Jensen as he listens to 13 tapes recorded by Hannah Baker explaining why she killed herself. Some viewers believe the show has prompted much-needed discussion about issues such as mental illness, bullying, sexual assault and suicide.
However, others think the show romanticized many of the issues and displayed a revenge narrative consistent with many teenagers’ reasons for attempting suicide.
4. Canada introduced legislation to legalize recreational marijuana.
On Thursday, the Canadian government released information about the impending legalization of marijuana, including policies to more strictly regulate marijuana sales, restrict access before 18, and border control. Despite it being a pretty serious move, it still provided ample opportunity for jokes and laughs among social media users.
5. Local Birmingham woman, Saffiyah Khan, faced down a shouting, pouting far-right protestor with a smile.
The Internet was heart-eyed for the young woman after photos spread of her calmly staring down an apoplectic English Defence League protestor, face-to-face.
Khan said she only stepped in because she saw about 25 men surrounding another woman, saying she doesn’t like seeing people getting ganged up on in her town.
6. Jian Ghomeshi started a new podcast and then got shut down within 24 hours (and everyone was unashamedly delighted).
Arriving on Twitter on Monday and announcing his new podcast that no one cares about so I won’t bother naming, the immediate backlash against Ghomeshi was severe.
Soon after the news, the company Ghomeshi used to host his podcast tweeted reply after reply to upset Twitter users that they would be suspending his show. Public opinion can sometimes be a truly beautiful thing.
7. Betty White, after 95 years of success and laughs….. continued living.
The Internet may be divided, but they’re united (no pun intended) in one way—they intend on Betty White living forever.
That’s all, folks! Tune back in next week for another roundup, hopefully with fewer PR blunders.