Host makes mean, racist comments to guest, cancels stay

Apparently, someone went and hunted down the host involved in this story, and published online their full name, photo, their address, their email addresses, their place of employment, and more. Someone also published online a statement referring to the host as a "white supremacist." I will not post here the link to all that since I am disturbed that this information has been published online and will not be party to its dispersal.

As disturbing as some of the hosts' comments are, and as disturbing as overt racist comments are at any time, there is no justification for internet bullying of this individual, which could lead to the loss of her job, her income, and potentially her home. Who knows, she may be receiving death threats and need police protection -- this has happened before in tense incidents having to do with race and racist comments.

I'm concerned with the level of vindictiveness that can be generated, regarding offensive things that people say. Out of curiosity, I briefly looked at the original FB post about this incident on news reporters Kuzj's page -- which by the way has over 16,000 comments -- it's pretty much imposssible to get through all that!

As I briefly glanced through some of the more recent comments, some of them, which were directed at "Trump supporters" or "those who voted for Trump" were more repellent and repulsive, not to mention more violent, than the material involved in the original incident. Clearly hate goes both ways -- and there's more than enough hate to go all around.

I think one reason for that level of violence and hate, is that, at least in present-time culture in the USA, there are few worse things one could do (that aren't violent crimes) than say something overtly racist. But, given the fact that we all have prejudices and biases of some type, (at least in the "id" part of the psyche) the culture is effectively suppressing its own shadow (eg subconscious or repressed psychological content), and looking for scapegoats to pin our own shadow material on. This is called psychological projection, and when a huge number of people in a community engage in this, it can readily lead to what we term "witch-hunting". en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_projection






So the few who do say something cringe-worthy, end up being the sacrificial lambs that many are eager to crucify. Some become so violently angry at a sentence or two, spoken by a virtual nobody (this host was not a prominent public figure), that I think they would not be satisifed until they had not only prevented her from hosting ever again, but also ensured that she lost her job, lost her house, lost all her income and possessions, and became a destitute indigent living in a box on the sidewalk. And then that wouldn't be enough either -- they'd have to come track her down and kick her.

The "zero tolerance" policy taken by Airbnb and others, unfortunately plays into that level of hate by treating people as though they are irredeemable. Completely worthless human beings. But even fundamentalist Christians -- who many may view as narrow minded or intolerant -- do not so completely reject any human being. So it seems highly ironic that those considering themselves "liberal" might take such a position, even if inadvertently.

it's apparent from screenshots shared online in other sites that present more info about this, that the guest's behavior was not completely innocent. The guest behaved in an entitled way and attempted to fit more guests and more pets into the host's accomodations, than originally booked, or even allowed. This by no means justifies the hosts' racist response -- hosts must have the ability to remain professional in all circumstances -- but it does reveal that there is more than one side to the story, and shows that the host was provoked. Significantly, parts of the conversation between host and guest are missing, and we go from rather friendly exchanges, to suddenly seeing the screenshots where the host is saying the awful things she did. What happened in between? This has all been hidden from the public, and now the internet bullies are out in force, their bloodthirstiness unleashed upon the wayward host. Apparently when one says certain things, one is no longer a human being, and any and all type of hate and vindictiveness are now acceptable.

And this is what one would expect with psychological projection at work, for it is a phenomena that readily leads to witch hunts.

The Airhosts Forum discussion on this subject:

www.airhostsforum.com/t/host-cancels-asian-womens-airbnb/13026