To go even further into the racism issue, do you people honestly think no one is aware of stuff like this? Rest assured, these things happen on the internet all the time. Some people online seem downright fixated on black people, the racism is so bad. Do you people seriously believe for a second that a black person who’s grown accustomed to discrimination online is going to feel sympathy for these people? Would YOU feel sympathy for someone abusing/harassing you?

No, I don’t feel sympathy for these kids. I don’t believe they are going to get over their prejudice towards black people (any time soon at least). And they are not remorseful for what they have said, we punish everyone else in society for their mistakes; so why should they be treated any differently? Because they are white, so they get a pass? Well how about if these were black kids posting racist remarks about white people? Would your stance change then? I believe it would!

They remind me of the ‘secessionists,’ many of whom would be horrified if their various government programs went away – Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, disability, unemployment, food stamps, housing assistance, etc. – and yet see fit to sign secession petitions when its pretty obvious that the vast majority of them are inherently racist.

President Obama is held in high regard by the people and governments of most of the rest of the world and yet here we are in the U.S. still struggling to overcome the last vestiges of extreme racism and bigotry.

my blog on this http://qhabhuti.wordpress.com/2012/11/22/liberal-mindset-that-sustains-racism-social-shaming/

You’re like them, because you find dumb or misguided teens on the net and publicly out their stupidity (rather than say reporting it to their school counselors to be addressed privately). Instead of having people confront the racism inside them, you just want them never ever to mention it.

For that you compare yourself to young Germans who were tortured to death for standing up to Nazi brutality.

You sir, are a drama queen and moral retard. You care zero about addressing and correcting racism and just want to stifle and shame people who disagree with you, not convince them of the wrongness inside and lead them to a better understanding. And god forbid you see the wrongness inside you!

So if I tracked down one of these tweeters and murdered him/her, would that be deserved? Or does the mere involvement of the internet not act as a moral magic wand that justifies any reaction whatsoever?

No one is asking for these kids to be protected from the consequences of their (racist, moronic) actions — if a college admissions officer or prospective employer had googled one of these names and stumbled across the tweets on his own, I would have zero sympathy. But Jezebel went out of its way to gin up consequences (national media coverage, strangers calling schools and colleges) far out of proportion to what most teens, and even most adults, face for errant tweets. Reading Jezebel’s post and having some historic familiarity with the site, I can’t escape the impression that they ruined these kids’ lives for the lulz. Self-righteous lulz, to be sure — but lulz nonetheless. Petty, vindictive gratification.

Commenters supportive of Jezebel have consistently said things like: “if you’re going to post on the internet like an adult [whatever THAT means], you should be treated like an adult.” Yet we clearly don’t feel that way when kids post “adult” photos of themselves — and nor should we. No one is asking Google to de-index these tweets or accord the racists special treatment because they’re underage. But Jezebel *has* accorded them special treatment — has singled them out for torment, just for fun (and maybe for pageviews) — and that’s disturbing and unprofessional.