Emily + Herbert, a cautionary tale: → https://www.npr.org/2018/04/13/601971617/the-callout … →https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/14/opinion/call-out-social-justice.html …
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Herbert alternates, as needed, between underscoring how little he cares about Emily — “I don’t care if she’s dead, alive, whatever” — and implying that what he’s done is for her own good. “That’s what happens when you learn from things.”
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1 tweet & a decade later, Emily became social poisonThe host, Hanna Rosin, says Emily doesn't think she deserves to be able to share how hurt she is. “Emily has never talked publicly about what being punished feels like… even with us, she kept policing herself, saying she had no right to tell her story.”
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Emily has been physically grabbed on the street after being recognized. Online & off, people have demanded she stay away from the physical spaces of her former life. One woman said that she “feared for her life” if Emily was around. Another said Emily’s presence triggers her PTSD
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Herbert’s reaction to Emily’s distress? “She’s like a cartoon.” He fake-sobs a boo-hoo-hoo into the mic. “Please get that frail white woman shit out of my face, please.”
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Later, Herbert says that calling Emily out on Twitter felt like having an orgasm. “It’s like… cumming.” He laughs. He explains that he was “getting high” off of the social feedback.
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Emily: “...it consumes me. Like, I lay awake. And I'm like, fuck. This is my life now. Nobody's around. I have nobody to talk to.”
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From the inside of this story, Emily is the abuser and Herbert is the hero. Their community watched this unfold, and by all appearances it decided that what it needs is fewer Emilys and more Herberts.
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End of conversation
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