It was a real #HasJustineLanded-type situation online this morning, as Twitterers waited to find out the identity of a man captured on camera behaving terribly. They did not have to wait very long.
First came the video. A white man suffering from a terminal case of Economic Anxiety is seen ranting to the manager of a Fresh Kitchen in Manhattan about an employee speaking Spanish to a customer. This man, belligerent from years of imagined oppression, threatens to call immigration authorities on the employee and eventually makes a comment about her physical appearance for good measure.
“My guess is they’re not documented, so my next call is to ICE to have each one of them kicked out of my country,” he says, in exactly the tone of voice one would guess. “They have the balls to come here and live off of my money? I pay for their welfare, I pay for their ability to be here. The least they could do, the least they could do is speak English.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6bnxcwNn8Y
The mystery of how anyone who lived through the past two years of America thought this behavior was acceptable may never be solved. Only the lord knows where this guy got such an idea. One thing that is no longer a mystery, however, is the identity of this sentient Pepe. Mostly thanks to Twitter, that case got closed within hours.
One of the first to broadcast the video and attempt to doxx its star was Intercept columnist and social justice advocate Shaun King, who was instrumental in tracking down some men who viciously attacked a young black man during the Charlottesville debacle last year.
https://twitter.com/ShaunKing/status/996725747711541249
King’s tweet went out just after 8 a.m. on Wednesday morning. Pretty soon, Twitter was amplifying not only King’s tweet but subsequent blog posts written about the incident. It did not take long for the hammer of crowdsourced TwitterJustice to come clanging down on this aggressive Flag Respecter.
Somebody recognized the man in the video from a protest last year, where he was seen yelling “You are not a Jew” at Jewish people supporting Palestine.
The asshole lawyer caught on video mad about people speaking Spanish in NYC that @ShaunKing is calling out?@Ike_Saul caught him on video yelling "You are not a Jew" to Jewish people last year.https://t.co/rSl2rpnmZw
— jordan (@JordanUhl) May 16, 2018
The real break arrived, though, when seven of the ranter’s college classmates recognized the man, and contacted Shaun King to confirm his identity. Before the crack of noon, Manhattan attorney Aaron M. Schlossberg’s contact information began making its way around Social Justice Twitter, and his law practice presumably began experiencing high call volume.
https://twitter.com/ShaunKing/status/996776630520565760
If there is one silver lining to this whole unfortunate incident, however, it’s the irony; the sweet, sweet irony.
https://twitter.com/mnorian4306/status/996790033783934976
Apparently, it’s permissible to speak Spanish in America if a white dude is making money from it. Go figure.
Recognize your brand’s excellence by applying to this year’s Brands That Matter Awards before the early-rate deadline, May 3.
