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by simplotek 1161 days ago
> (...) I think it made a lot of sense to reveal that the actual suspect now arrested (...)

Have we learned nothing from Reddit's Boston bomber witch hunt?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_of_Sunil_Tripathi

2 comments

What a terrible comparison. There is a massive difference between identifying someone who has been charged and randomly naming brown people the killer.
I've learnt that's a poor comparison to this
Please explain what leads you to believe that doxing suspects, exactly like in the Boston bomber case, is a reasonable idea.
In this example there is enough evidence the suspect has been arrested by police, which is a public record. Not remotely the same as the Boston bomber reddit-misidentification case.
It is every bit the same and every bit as shitty a metric. Remember Richard Jewell?

The man's only crime was being the first person to find a live bomb and help people escape it before it then detonated and killed 100+ others. The fucker was a literal goddamn hero.

But then the media implied he was a sad loser rent-a-cop who planted a bomb so he could find it and pretend to be someone important for a day. It was absolutely depraved, and that's before the FBI started harassing him.

But hey, all's fair for anyone named as a suspect by law enforcement. They always get it right the first time around. Everyone who gets arrested is later convicted. They always kick down the right door before sending the SWAT team in.

Fuck internet vigilantes, and the FBI.

I agree, but we can't only have this discussion when someone wealthy is implicated in a crime. On any other given day the SF carceral brigade is out for blood. Just recently a prominent person was talking about bringing back lynching. So when they suddenly start waxing on about the rights of the suspects, we should absolutely press them on their change of heart.
I agree with you too, but don't think holding politicians to their lies or fixating on class warfare is really the most pressing part of the situation. He's calling for lynchings because he knows there's a receptive audience for it.

That's the part you should be most worried about, because a mob so empowered could just as easily turn its gaze to you. Good luck trying to be a nuisance to that prominent person once the mob gets a taste for blood. Before participating in doxxing frenzies or lynch mobs, nobody ever stops and thinks "what if this guy didn't actually do it?"

No expansion of the carceral state required, we'll just deputize an angry mob to play the part of Executioner.

> I agree, but we can't only have this discussion when someone wealthy is implicated in a crime.

We don't.

If you're serious about this, you're also responsible for not pushing for doxing of random suspects. You can't argue that there are good witch hunts and bad witch hunts.

Richard Jewell who was never charged?
It is painfully simple. Charges are a matter of public record. Naming random brown people as terrorists only creates innocent victims.

Honestly, it’s time to let this idea die. It’s not only completely wrong but it’s not making you look very bright.