This happened at Alabama? Shocking. Not even for a full ride would I allow my child to attend that bastion of superficiality, hypocrisy, and houndstooth.
“I’d forgotten about that video. Bubbles, glitter, puppies, popsicles, and pool toys are what college is about, right?”
You forgot bleach blondes and booty. Lots of both.
My son is a VERY recent Bama grad (December) and I lean pretty liberal, but maybe because I live in the rural Midwest and hear such rants on a fairly regular basis (it was only a few months ago when I felt compelled at work to speak up when a small group of co-workers was speaking of how you can’t tell specific Asian origins of individuals because all Asians look the same - one African American co-worker who was participating in the conversation seemed offended when I called the conversation racist), but I think there has been some extreme over-reaction to these videos.
The first video I saw (with a sink in the picture) was very short and may have been truncated by the site I was viewing it on, so maybe there was more to it. In the second video, I thought she was pretty obviously intoxicated which helps contribute to bad judgment and being less inhibited.
I think the sorority made the correct decision to remove her as a member because she did mention the sorority and they don’t want that video to color the way all their members are viewed. I also think they were in their right to do so.
But I HOPE that the university provided other options to her before she left. Being a college student should be a learning experience and I HOPE they encouraged her to volunteer in an area with a high minority population or become involved with a campus organization supporting minority and/or international students to help her expand her views. I’d like to think this is something she could learn from.
As mentioned in posts above, on many social media sites she is now being harassed and even threatened, but I’m also pretty certain there are other people and groups reaching out to her as well. In this time of personal crisis, I’d be willing to bet that some of her strongest supporters are those white supremacist groups who are telling her she’s done nothing wrong and they are there for her.
As gouf78 mentioned about social media, it’s helping to tear our society in (at least) two. Recently FB said they are going to improve their platform by showing less news and more content from friends and family, but as far as I’m concerned it would be a better platform if it was ONLY showing content from friends and family. If I want to join a group I do. If I want to friend someone I do. But why is there even on option to share posts ‘publically’. We don’t NEED viral videos. And we definitely don’t need to provide a national platform for the thoughts and opinions of every person.
I hope as this young woman tries to come to terms with what has happened that she realizes that as a nation we have an EXTREMELY short attention span and in 2 weeks no one is even going to remember her name and her life is not over and that if she learns from this and makes some better decisions that next fall she can be back in a new school and that some employers will stop and think about the stupid things they said and did when they were young when making those hiring decisions.
Never Fails, so the great debate is about the idiots rights, She freely said what she wanted to say , now she’s learning the lesson we all should have learned as kids. “Don’t let your mouth write a check that your butt can’t cash”! When Kaepernick exercised his rights he lost his job and once again the debates began, never about why he knelt, only concerning his right to kneel or not too. She still has the same rights today as she did when she decided to spew hate in search of high fives and likes. Put 10,000 mics in front of her today and let her exercise her right to speak and let’s see what comes out of her filthy mouth now. #zerosympathy
“I thought she was pretty obviously intoxicated which helps contribute to bad judgment and being less inhibited.”
Not a good excuse in my book, nor was it for Mel Gibson. Alcohol might remove your inhibitions but it doesn’t turn you into a racist.
I completely agree that alcohol doesn’t turn you into a racist, but I think if we were to start watching the drunk ramblings going on in rural America (maybe because I’ve seen some of the drunk ramblings going on in rural America live) this video would suddenly not seem very shocking.
Do many of us find it shocking though? I don’t. Disturbing, yes. Reinforces my belief that we remain a country filled with racism, yes. Reinforces my view that racist folks seem more comfortable voicing thoughts they used to keep behind closed doors, yes. But no, I’m not shocked.
@pishicaca Hateful generalizations like that put you on her level. Aren’t you better than that?
@JHS-- “and the public response surely lets the woman in question and her friends know what a lot of other people think of her attitudes once they become explicit. I can live with that kind of uncivility.”
"My daughter goes to Alabama. The sorority has been threatened and their vehicles vandalized. The girls have been advised to take the sorority letters off of their cars for a while and hire extra security. The girl is gone but there is still plenty of fallout. "
So JHS–Do you think the sorority should be paying this price? Can you live with that?
I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here.
- A school is not a person. It’s ok for me to state my dislike for a school as many do every day on this site. 2) This entire site is based upon user opinions and generalizations. I’m sorry you don’t agree with mine regarding the University of Alabama but that doesn’t make it wrong or inherently bad. It just makes it different from yours. I hope your daughter is receiving the education and experience she was hoping for. @LostTexan
Your winnings sir…
The problem I see is that with social media everything is magnified. She deserved to be kicked out of the sorority. She has earned herself a certain amount of public shaming. She does not deserve death threats, vandalism, and to be tarred by this one horrible event for the rest of her life. College students do stupid things, and I do think this video exposed who she is at this juncture in her life, but I find it sad that 20 years from now when someone is doing a check on her for a job this video is likely to surface.
I have very little tolerance for sororities. I advised against Greek life for my kids. But by all accounts the other members did the right thing-they kicked her out-and for them to have to hire extra security is just sad.
“his entire site is based upon user opinions and generalizations.”
Let’s see if the site owners agree. 
Every sorority has a recruitment video. Lots of bubbles, sparkles, mascots, jumping into lakes. They are trying to attract 17-18 year olds, not parents.
I am very pro sororities as I think they give a lot of support while in college and throughout life. Just this week I attended the funeral for the mother of one of my friends. I met this mother 40 years ago. Three of us braved the cold and ice to support this sister.
This girl was from New Jersey. This isn’t a rural problem, or a Southern one.
@pishicaca You’re right. I just try not to say hateful things, I should remember not everyone is like that. And yes, my daughter is having a wonderful experience involving none of your stereotypes. Thanks for asking.
“And yes, my daughter is having a wonderful experience involving none of your stereotypes.”
@LostTexan No houndstooth? I have a hard time believing that. 
One approach to this type of situation is to drive the person away, punish them on social media, and try to prevent the person from ever getting back into school or getting a decent job. But there’s another approach that says redemption is possible. The Southern Poverty Law Center recognizes that “there is life after hate.” https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2016/life-after-hate. There’s also the inspiring story of Daryl Davis who has made it his mission to get people to turn away from the KKK.
https://www.npr.org/2017/08/20/544861933/how-one-man-convinced-200-ku-klux-klan-members-to-give-up-their-robes.
However, the increasing uncivility is taking us in the direction of regarding people of other political viewpoints as “enemy of the people” rather than “reasonable people whom you disagree with on some issues”. That much of it is about race and racism means that there is often no middle ground of compromise – if you believe that someone is against you for being rather than against something that you for doing, then you will probably take a hard line against him/her.
That does not mean that hidden or stealth racism is less bad, particularly since it can result in racial discrimination that is visible over large samples but cannot be proved (or disproved) in individual incidents. On the other hand, it may be the case that we are seeing increases in both hidden racism and open racism.