Comedian Ricky Gervais has created a firestorm around a photo of a hunter posting with a deceased giraffe, apparently on a safari hunt.
The comedian used his social media account to draw attention to what he believed is an unjust killing of a wild creature. In doing so, he has put a spotlight on the person in the photograph, turning the Internet’s attention to her private life.
Jason Manning, assistant of sociology and anthropology at West Virginia University, recently detailed the rise of an issue highlighted in the reaction to the tweet issued by Gervais—microaggressions, which are actions where people jump on perceived slights or remarks on social media and rally for support to people who otherwise wouldn’t hear their opinions.
In recent years, it has become increasingly common for university students to create online forums for describing words and deeds they perceive as offensive and indicative of sexism, racism, or other prejudice. In the paper “Microaggression and Moral Cultures,” Manning details the social conditions that encourage people to take offense, publicly voice grievances, and seek support for their stances. The report was co-authored California State University’s Bradley Campbell. Together, the authors outline the social conditions that breed online complaining and hashtag activism.
“One theme in our paper is that social media increases the ability of aggrieved individuals to rally a large group of people around their cause, or publicly expose and embarrass someone they define as a deviant,” Manning said. “A virtual mob can be mobilized overnight to spread the word of someone’s alleged wrongdoing, flood his or her inbox with hate mail, and apply other kinds of pressure.”
Manning added that there are more violent and hurtful consequences of these public shamings.
“Modern media provides new ways of harming others and tarnishing their reputations. People can now be more easily humiliated by publicly exposing their private affairs, such as posting nude pictures or other sensitive information online,” he said. “Such exposure might even drive someone to suicide.”
In the age of social media and hyper connectedness online, conflicts may increasingly make their way online.
“New media technology, which gives any person the ability to bring their grievances before a crowd of millions, seems to encourage the public airing of grievances in this way,” Manning said.
Manning and his colleague initially began their work after noticing microaggression websites popping up around colleges across the United States. One goal of their work was to explain why relatively minor slights are treated as a serious matter worthy of public complaint.
“One explanation we advance in the paper, taken from sociologist Donald Black’s theory of conflict, is that insults and slights are more offensive in settings where people are relatively equal and diverse to begin with,” Manning said.
“One can assume that nobody in history has liked his or her own social group being put down, but in diverse and relatively egalitarian societies , insulting any group is more likely to be considered offensive by everyone,” Manning said. “This might further encourage people to notice and draw attention to even unintentional insults.”
-WVU-
dr/04/16/2015
CONTACT: Devon Copeland; Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
304.293.6867; Devon.Copeland@mail.wvu.edu
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