Justine Sacco is the top PR person for InterActiveCorp, the New York media conglomerate run by Barry Diller. IAC owns the Daily Beast, Vimeo, About.com, Match.com and Ask.com, among many others. On her Twitter profile, Sacco calls herself a "troublemaker on the side" known for her "loud laugh." Perhaps it was inevitable that this self-image would clash with her high-rolling position.
Because Sacco has made a world of trouble for herself, and as I write this, she doesn't even know it. Before she got on a plane Friday, a tweet emerged from Sacco's account, a joke of such monumental stupidity that it was hard for many people to believe her account wasn't hacked:
Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white!
— Justine Sacco (@JustineSacco) December 20, 2013
Point of fact, we still don't know if Justine Sacco's account was hacked, or if she left her phone when she boarded her plane in London. But that didn't stop IAC from issuing a preemptive press release: “This is an outrageous, offensive comment that does not reflect the views and values of IAC,” the company said. “Unfortunately, the employee in question is unreachable on an international flight, but this is a very serious matter and we are taking appropriate action.”
If that were all there was to the story, it would have briefly lit up Twitter like a Christmas tree and burned itself out with Sacco's firing. But you can't fire someone this senior for anything without talking to them first, and Sacco was on a very long plane journey — 11 hours, 20 minutes on British Airways.
That occasioned a tremendous schadenfreude, as users waited for 20th century transport to catch up with 21st century communications.
Here's a representative sample of the conversation, via the trending hashtag #HasJustineLandedYet:
#HasJustineLandedYet is NORAD Santa Tracker for adults.
— jane davis (@janedavis) December 21, 2013
If only @LOLJustineSacco had Whoopi Goldberg on flight, bc I'm pretty sure this would occur: #HasJustineLandedYet pic.twitter.com/1ZNIziJyct
— John Jdol (@JohnJdol) December 21, 2013
LAST Friday: "Surprise, heffas!" - Beyonce to the world THIS Friday: "Surprise, heffa!" - the world to Justine #HasJustineLandedYet
— Bee (@BeeSince83) December 21, 2013
Right, is there no one in Cape Town going to the airport to tweet her arrival? Come on, twitter! I'd like pictures #HasJustineLandedYet
— Farhad Manjoo (@fmanjoo) December 21, 2013
Man, things are going to get so awkward for #JustineSacco once she realizes Africans have twitter, too. #hasjustinelandedyet
— Laila Alawa (@lulainlife) December 21, 2013
Sacco is nearly impossible to defend. It seems she has left a trail of casual racism across social media on her travels ("Herrro Beijing!"), making the hacking scenario unlikely, and explaining why her company rushed to denounce her — they knew it was most likely the genuine article. She certainly did herself no favors with this writer by sliming the British in a tweet during her pit stop in London earlier Friday.
Still, it was hard to ignore a disturbing feeling in the mob's response, and something creepy in the trial by social media that was going on in her absence. You can argue she did it to herself — all those pictures in the album "Too Much Swagger for White Girls (Miami '10)" are in the public part of her Facebook Timeline, after all.
But when Google posts details of her flight at the top of search results for her name, you've got to wonder whether our transparent society has turned into a transparent dystopia. There's a fine line between slamming Sacco for her blatant what-guys-I-was-just-kidding buffoonery, and taking an unconscionable delight in the misfortune of others while playing Big Brother on their lives.
Quite apart from anything else, that sort of attention may play into the worst tendencies of someone who would write that. It grants her notoriety, maybe even a career in news channel punditry. She can pour out an apology to Barbara Walters.
When her plane lands in Johannesburg, I hope not a soul tweets her picture. I hope they show a far older social response, and turn their back on her. And as for the rest of us, I hope we take the suggestion of several good souls on Twitter — if you are (rightfully) offended by what she said, channel your rage into donating to an AIDS charity.
Image: Justine Sacco, Facebook