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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   32248 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of January 2, 2023

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The blonde white woman is clearly the hero of the engagement. It's

It looks like she's the first person to attack, throwing a coffee carafe at the black lady.

The coffee carafe wasn't the first attack, though it looks like a serious escalation (the target has climbed down from the counter, has an arm up defensively, isn't making any sudden or offensive moves, and doesn't even seem to be shouting anymore) and a foolish escalation (broken glass can be dangerous, not just to the target but to everybody left in the crowded diner who's going to have to walk over it now).

The longest video I can find has a cut in the middle (from a shouting match jumping to someone already up on a counter), so we can't see the first interpersonal violence, but the employee admitted throwing a sugar shaker and I can't find anything earlier with a human target. But there was probably earlier violent property destruction, if we believe her claim that this was aimed at "one girl wearing leopard patterned clothing throwing silverware, kicking plates, and kicking food", after she and her friends had refused to say out of a closed-off area, started shouting about being refused service, and refused to leave when instructed to.

If there are any "heroes of the engagement" here, they're among the handful of patrons and employees trying to break up fights rather than escalate them.

Do you mean after the black woman stops trying to climb over the counter to get her?

  1. I'm basing this on reactions to the video, not legalities.

  2. Grey shirt black girl and white shirt black girl were already behind the counter attacking people prior to this. Another angle.

Grey shirt black girl and white shirt black girl were already behind the counter attacking people prior to this. Another angle.

That video is from after the carafe was thrown.

Why would, or, rather, should the memes matter more than the actual facts of what happened? The videos you've linked don't make it obvious as to the exact chain of events, and it does kinda look like the employees triggered the rowdy patrons to go on the assault.

Why would, or, rather, should the memes matter more than the actual facts of what happened?

I do not think the memes should matter. Here's what would happen in my ideal world.

  1. NYTimes publishes stuff about George Floyd.

  2. Fox News publishes actual statistics on unarmed black men killed by cops (~20/year).

  3. Other media realizes the NY Times is trying to play to their emotions, publishes a few statistics explainers.

  4. Everyone realizes that George Floyd is a fluke and this is a truly minor problem we can ignore.

But that is not the real world. In the real world memes matter, narratives matter, and Musk has the ability to let memes spread (as well as statistics supporting them) when the rest of the media is suppressing them.

employees triggered the rowdy patrons to go on the assault.

Great. Now how many cases can you find of drunk Indian or Chinese ladies being "triggered...to go on the assault"?

Just an anecdote, but the last time I saw an Indian lady being "triggered" by staff, she very aggressively narrated the bad reviews she was typing into her phone while ordering her boyfriend to film the encounter.

Ehh people clearly already crossed the counter. But they did seem to be leaving. So it appears customers started it but perhaps Wendy continued it.

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