Ethics Dunce Extraordinaire: Director Spike Lee
The film director, writer, social critic, sports fan and incurable hot-head has apparently tweeted—twice— the home address of George Zimmerman, who is the man who shot Trayvon Martin.
Meanwhile, the New Black Panthers have placed a cash bounty on “capturing” Zimmerman, and he is also receiving death threats.
If someone uses the Lee-tweeted address to go and kill Zimmerman—certainly within the realm of possibility given the over-heated, emotional and irresponsible rhetoric over Martin’s death—Lee won’t be prosecuted. But his conduct is vicious and criminal in spirit.
Well, Twitter has wrecked plenty of lives; it’s just a matter of time before it ends one. Spike Lee is just the man to make it happen.
There is no excuse for this.
Ethics Alarms 
“There is no excuse for this.”
Perfectly said.
Perhaps I should attempt being concise more frequently.
On the other hand, this was easy.
One of the problems with Twitter is that it is too easy to engage your mouth before your brain.
Yes. Also true of CNN, as Eric Fehrnstrom recently proved.
Hard to understand how a sane human being could do that.
Which is why I don’t twitter. The very name says it all. Somehow, though, i never anticipated it being an instrument of attempted murder. You’re right though, Jack. If anyone could do it, Lee could. Personal responsibility for one’s words and deeds is not a Hollywood trademark.
Y’know, I actually have a comment for this one.
Could someone tell me HOW a crowd that decries “vigilante murder” as what happened to this poor teenager (assuming he is, as it’s fair to assume, completely innocent) can simultaneously be complicit in this exposure and what would befall this guy now that some OTHER well-intentioned lunatic could easily place his hands on him? How quickly this could devolve from, “The law needs to DO something!” to “The law won’t do anything? Well, I’ll get him myself!” The law against vigilantism exists PRECISELY to stop nonsense like this.
If you whip up a crowd into a big enough frenzy it doesn’t have to make sense anymore. Mob mentality takes over. For those that are still thinking? Perhaps there is some false and dangerous rationalization that THEY started it so we shouldn’t be held responsible for what happens. The whole tit for tat scenario. Sadly, there are some who are using this situation for their own personal gain and I find it quite disgusting.
Many people tweet and text things they would never say to another person’s face. There seems to be a sense of safety in becoming more aggressive, hostile and vicious while tweeting and texting. It is probably a bad comparison but it’s a bit like road rage. It seems as if some feel protected and impervious to accountability in these modes. I’ve always called it tweet/text rage when I have had cases in which I have had to deal with this type of behavior. And no…there is no excuse for it.
Jack, COMPLETELY agree with you on this one. I still maintain Obama’s comments were remarkably measured under the circumstances, but Spike Lee is completely over the line. As were Sharpton, Farrakhan, Jackson and the other members of the latter-day lynch squad – which it is, and ain’t that curious.
BTW – he calls it a Spike Lee JOINT, not a Spike Lee Production. Thought you should know. (and that ain’t the same as a spelling correction).
OOOO! That’s GOOD!. Thanks!
This was an easy one, all right. Very disappointing and irresponsible.
It is shameful that the same pathological hatred possessed by many Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is also possessed by many black people in America. I made this observation in comments on other blogs.
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For once, I quite agree.
I thought I read something about an arrest in England … if memory serves correctly, the person arrested had “tweeted” something that resulted in a flash mob/riot. Anyone else remember anything about that?
So, he didn’t even tweet the right address and an elderly couple had to leave their home for fear of their safety?