HuskerBoard

I just caught part of a new story on this but I don't really understand. So a white dude that was raised in Iowa tweeted a bunch of racist stuff when he was 16 (shocker), but has gone on to become a real human being and raised a bunch of money for a hospital, but an ambulance Chaser reporter for one of the newspapers found the old tweets and is making a thing out of it? Is that what happened?

Sorry but I don't feel sorry for the guy.  Very very nice gesture sure but 16 or not your fault for being openly racist.  Came back to bite him.

I don't know, @suh_fan93

If this guy was raised in a racist environment, like many people in rural Iowa and Nebraska (source: self), it's not hard to believe that he would regurgitate what he hears around him at that age. Then he grows up, moves on, and realizes the error of his ways, and puts those racist thoughts behind him.

We're supposed to hold him accountable as an adult for things he said back then? 

We need to seriously rethink our ideas of right & wrong in this country.

It's just my opinion but I don't think bad upon the newspaper for reporting it.  As the editor said it wasn't a quick decision to decide to report the old tweets.  Also the 'things' he said back then were pretty serious being that they were racist and homophobic in content.  No one knows if he was just 'regurgitating' what was being said around him in his local environment in 'Iowa/the midwest' or if those were his genuine feelings at the time.  

Racism is a learned behavior. Of course he learned those biases, and of course he was regurgitating it. It's not clear if it was a deeply-held belief at 16, but we do have his words today that expressly state he regrets those words, and that he in no way feels that way now. 

The paper printed an editorial explaining why they dug into his past, and it seems pretty normal. They did warn him ahead of time, and he held a presser on his own, before the story was published, that this news was coming out. But he only did that because they informed him they were going to put his past in print.

It's nice that he apologized.  He had no choice at that point however as you stated he had been warned ahead of time so that's when he decided to hold the presser.  Some things come back to haunt you and in this case that's exactly what happened.  For me personally regardless of age I agree with what the editors ultimately decided to do.  I don't think you ever give a 'pass' for statements like that regardless of age (16 years old) but that's just my opinion.

@suh_fan93 so how do you feel about the reporter? The internet (love the righteousness of the internet) dug up the REPORTER's very racist, very homophobic old tweets last night. He has since deleted his tweets and made his Twitter private. The Des Moines Register has suspended him and I don't see any way they can't fire him - his tweets were worse than Carson's, and this dude was in his 20s when he tweeted it. 

Something something cast the first stone? 

I mean it's pretty simple.  He should be called on the carpet as well.  If he isn't by the newspaper then they can either keep him and take even more heat or address it somehow.  That's up to them.

WHY does everything from the past need to be dug up?  Why did the Register feel they needed to dig into his past?  Absolutely the only reason to do so, is to try to find something to tear him down with.

Why can't someone just do something nice and not be torn apart afterwards for past bad decisions?

I can't wait until I do something and get my 15 minutes of fame, only to have the world dig into my online past and find out that I'm half a dumbass half the time and I can't math.

Everyone responding here and on this site has laughed at a joke that was offensive to someone...everyone here has told a joke that was offensive to someone.  It doesn't make you a bad person, it makes you a person.

The paper did nothing wrong in my opinion. I mean, that's the thing about social media, if you choose to use it, its out there forever. It's the same rules set we all live by.  16 or not, the guy put that out there as part of his community and profile. We all grow and change and thank goodness he has, but when it's out there like that, be prepared to deal with it. I think his apology and admission that he has moved on is about all that can happen, but I can understand why a company like Anheiser can no longer back him. I guarantee that there are a lot of people with dirty laundry like this in their social media past, but I also guarantee there are many many more that do not have this kind of stuff in their history. Those that chose to publish bigoted thinking, no matter how old they were, need to be ready to handle it when it comes back. 

So public lynchings for everyone. Got it... 

As an update and to clarify. The story is that the college student, when he was 16 years old, shared two quotes that he thought were funny from the Tosh.O show on Comedy Central. Not that he was a screaming racist. Any body who ever saw Tosh.O knows that he very frequently pushed boundaries and said distasteful things. @suh_fan93

@Husker03 why???  What's the purpose???

The guy did a very good thing and because of it, this sham of a reporter thought their job was to go try to find something to tear him apart with.

It's pathetic reporting and he, the editor and the paper deserves every bit of negative back lash they get....and more.

Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should do it.

The people who are apoplectic about King must have sterling and undocumented pasts, I'm guessing.