Facecrime!

“He did not know how long she had been looking at him, but perhaps for as much as five minutes, and it was possible that his features had not been perfectly under control. It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself — anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face (to look incredulous when a victory was announced, for example) was itself a punishable offence. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: facecrime, it was called.”

- George Orwell 1984

It’s probably a good thing that Big Brother hasn’t quite amounted to the panopticon state Orwell once imagined—yet. But the pop-culture version of it is equally as interesting.

The recent social media inquisition of a catholic school kid, and the many racist and puerile condemnations of how the kids looked, reminds us of Orwell’s concept of facecrime in 1984.

“One reason that video is cutting so deep today: The smug, fixed, chilly smile. That's not a teenager out of control. It's the familiar gleam of a zealot. Never in the history of this country has that look portended anything but bad news.”

mobile.twitter.com...

“I honestly haven't stopped thinking about that MAGA kid all day - in part because I think so many of us have been on the receiving end of the face he was making: a smug, untouchable, entitled '# you'.”

mobile.twitter.com...

“Anyone who knew the popular white boys in high school recognized it: the confident gaze, the eyes twinkling with menace, the smirk. The face of a boy who is not as smart as he thinks he is, but is exactly as powerful. The face that sneers, “What? I’m just standing here,” if you flinch or cry or lash out. The face knows that no matter how you react, it wins. ”

slate.com...

“As the boys molded our huddle, I felt panic growing in my gut.
 I felt trapped.  There were so many of them around us that I couldn’t see out beyond them.  All I could see was cold faces full of empty laughter, boys intoxicated on their own false sense of power, control, and entitlement.”

www.yahoo.com...

“On the video footage, it is difficult to hear exactly what is said. The students encircle Phillips, camera phones held out, a few jeering as he sings. One of them, smiling, maintains direct eye contact, inches from Phillips’s face. The teenager’s expression ignited immediate comparisons online: to Unite the Right rally attendees from 2017, to the white mob taunting African-American student Dorothy Counts in 1957, to the mental image of Brett Kavanaugh as a teenager, holding down Christine Blasey Ford.”

www.vogue.com...

“Plus side: A face like that never changes. This image will define his life. No one need ever forgive him.”

mobile.twitter.com...

“Honest question. Have you ever seen a more punchable face than this kid’s?”

twitter.com...

Facecrime!

But by mere facial expression alone, the Twitterati deemed the kid guilty of numerous imaginary transgressions. And because the snobbery on Twitter is the media’s editorial board, journos, celebrities and pundits followed along like ravenous dogs.

The young man’s smiling face, which by then had gone viral, conjured imagery of racism, bigotry and persecution in active imaginations.

Once all the details had been revealed, however, it was the reaction to his face that was proven to be racist, bigoted and persecutory. Irony is rarely that thick.

We should ask these experts on face-making what face they would have made after being berated with racist insults, and confronted by a drumming activist who thinks, by the fact of his own race, he is the moral superior.

We should keep in mind who the adults are here: the chanting, drumming and lying activist, the hate-preaching Black Isrealites, the sniffing social media mob, all of whom condemned a group of school kids on a lie. Upon viewing the details and hearing the young man’s explanation, his expression becomes all the more obvious. It is the face a kid makes upon realizing that the adults are often raving, bloody lunatics.

a reply to: Propagandalf


The problem is that they know the kid did nothing wrong. Orange Man Bad is all they have in their head. Right or Wrong means nothing to them anymore.

I still think he was a bit of a punk. Nothing near what the media portrayed. Also, let me say this louder for the people in the back - DEATH THREATS ARE NOT OKAY.

Back to the topic at hand. I think we as society could all use a deep breath and time to step back. Media (all sides as was proven this week) jumps to conclusions. They had been trained to do so by the public. It gets them more money. It gets them promotions. The second the media doesn't release "all" the info, we freak out that we deserve to know more. The second the media jumps the gun, we take that info and run with it. There is no fact checking.

It is great that people want to stand up against those who do wrong. Do your research though. People are so worried about being the first to get their opinion out that they have no idea what they are commenting on. They went viral though so good for them.

Wearing a MAGA hat doesn't make your a racist automatically.
Being a Native American elder does not make you an amazing person automatically.
It is confrontational to stare into someone's eyes and not move? Yes.
It is confrontational to walk straight up to someone and not try an alternative route? Yes.

This was really a non-issue that the whole country is now arguing about.

Meh. My face was a crime before it was cool.

a reply to: Propagandalf

According to some right here at ATS, the fact that he did not turn tail and leave when confronted by that man was just absolutely despicable and disrespectful.

He didnt lay a finger on the dude but just the fact that he stood there is some kind of an offense now.

Meanwhile minority gang bangers are shooting at everything that moves, but, something needs to be done about these unruly white kids. Don't they know their place? Now if that Native had gotten in the face of an illegal immigrant, then He would be in the wrong.

Identity Politics people, learn your hierarchies!

They are regularly updated based on the outrage of the week, but this does not bode well for straight white christians...they are already at the bottom of the pecking order, but I think it's safe to say they can expect some extra packs this week as their position on the standings has no hope at all for improvement at least anytime in the next decade or two.

And that's all the time we have for this round of Leftist Insanity, we'll be back next week for whatever crazy bull# they try to pull next time!

And now, a word from our sponsors...

[EDIT]-BRAWNDO THE THIRST MUTILATOR!
(the first commercial is meh but the other two crank up the ridiculousness to amazing proportions!)

This one smile isn't the only one he made. I saw him stop smiling, looking worried and worst of all, he twitched several times when the moron with the drum hit right next to him as if the kid thought he would be smacked with that stick.
The left are scary people. They are not fit to ever have any authority as they have the closest, nastiest and wrongest minds I could ever observe.

This kid did everything right. If he hadn't smiled they would still crucify him for being arrogant. At some points he even smiled nicely as if to make the old fart smile too and bring some kind of friendliness into it. But the old fogey was determined to drum the #e out of this kid and get a reaction he could use for his advantage.

Now so called adults are actually making death threads against this peaceful kid. Is that even allowed? WHy are they not in jail or on a terrorist list for inciting violence against minors?

Someone also mentioned that these kids should not wear political hats, yet at the same time the left wants to lower voting age to....wait for it: this kid's age !!!
They also say these kids can't know enough about politics to wear a hat or go to ralleys and yet 11 year olds apparently know that they are the wrong gender and can have chemical castration done to them.

I say it again, the left are a mental illness, so dangerous that I have run out of words. They have the combined mind and reasoning of small petulent schoolchildren. Never, ever let them be in power, because they will kill those they don't like with no hesitation and no remorse. Beware!

I am getting more and more worried about these dangerous people in our society. If they had some intelligence they would be far more dangerous, so at least lets be thankful for their inability to think logically.

What can be done about this obvious insanity, when will someone stand up and say 'enough is enough'? If the right would be as dangerous as the left makes them out to be, don't they think they'd be all in camps by now?

Action speak louder than words and the left's action is aggression, incitement, child endangerment, destruction of civilised order, lunacy and digging themselves into ever deeper holes.

originally posted by: headorheart
I still think he was a bit of a punk. Nothing near what the media portrayed. Also, let me say this louder for the people in the back - DEATH THREATS ARE NOT OKAY.

Back to the topic at hand. I think we as society could all use a deep breath and time to step back. Media (all sides as was proven this week) jumps to conclusions. They had been trained to do so by the public. It gets them more money. It gets them promotions. The second the media doesn't release "all" the info, we freak out that we deserve to know more. The second the media jumps the gun, we take that info and run with it. There is no fact checking.

It is great that people want to stand up against those who do wrong. Do your research though. People are so worried about being the first to get their opinion out that they have no idea what they are commenting on. They went viral though so good for them.

Wearing a MAGA hat doesn't make your a racist automatically.
Being a Native American elder does not make you an amazing person automatically.
It is confrontational to stare into someone's eyes and not move? Yes.
It is confrontational to walk straight up to someone and not try an alternative route? Yes.

This was really a non-issue that the whole country is now arguing about.

I agree, it is a complete non-story. But the racist and bigoted overreaction is a story.

Punk or not, he did nothing wrong. He was deemed guilty on account of his facial expression, his skin color, his bloody hat. Meanwhile, the adults, the drumming activist who confronted them, the black Israelites who verbally and racially maligned them, were treated as tender victims in need of protection.

a reply to: Propagandalf

It’s probably a good thing that Big Brother hasn’t quite amounted to the panopticon state Orwell once imagined. But the pop-culture version of it is equally as interesting.

Oh, we're definitely heading in that direction. This is only the beginning...

originally posted by: Hecate666

If he hadn't smiled they would still crucify him for being arrogant.

The smiling is what made it arrogant.

a reply to: 3n19m470

Yeah, I don't get it. The condemnations of his face raise the question: what type of face should he have made? I'm guessing that had these inquisitors been in his shoes, the would have looked at the ground or in some way grovelled as they repent for the crimes of their ancestors.

There was no right expression he could have worn.
Smiled,he is cocky.
Frown, is respectful.
Mean mug, confrontational
Neutral, racist for not showing emotion for the cultural drumming.

He should just had the foresight to not be there I guess? He needed to be clairvoyant.

He was also supposed to have a vagina hat on.

It would have been nice if he wasn’t so white too.

Should he encounter this sistuation again he should just immediately prostrate himself on the ground naked and hope for the best.
a reply to: Propagandalf

originally posted by: knowledgehunter0986
a reply to: Propagandalf

It’s probably a good thing that Big Brother hasn’t quite amounted to the panopticon state Orwell once imagined. But the pop-culture version of it is equally as interesting.

Oh, we're definitely heading in that direction. This is only the beginning...

I amended the op just for you, friend.

a reply to: Propagandalf

What I don't understand is, why where these kids allowed to get involved in this in the first place?

Admittedly, I only watched the start of the video where those kids were being allowed to approach and interact with those crazy racist black fanatics... But where were the caretakers (guardians, teachers or whatever)?

From what I understand, this was some kind of school excursion, yeah?

Yet the only adults I witnessed in the crowd, seemed like they were almost encouraging the kids to confront those crazy fanatics, let alone trying to defuse the situation.

I personally think whether that kid was being a smart arse or disrespectful to the elder is completely irrelevant in this situation... It's the incompetence of the teachers or guardians who allowed the confrontation in the first place, who should be under scrutiny over this incident.

originally posted by: Subaeruginosa
a reply to: Propagandalf

What I don't understand is, why where these kids allowed to get involved in this in the first place?

Admittedly, I only watched the start of the video where those kids were being allowed to approach and interact with those crazy racist black fanatics... But where were the caretakers (guardians, teachers or whatever)?

From what I understand, this was some kind of school excursion, yeah?

Yet the only adults I witnessed in the crowd, seemed like they were almost encouraging the kids to confront those crazy fanatics, let alone trying to defuse the situation.

I personally think whether that kid was being a smart arse or disrespectful to the elder is completely irrelevant in this situation... It's the incompetence of the teachers or guardians who allowed the confrontation in the first place, who should be under scrutiny over this incident.

According to them, they were visiting the monument and waiting for their buses to arrive before being berated and accosted by childish activists. No, none of them are at fault, mainly because they did nothing wrong.

a reply to: Subaeruginosa

Plenty of schools in America bring teenagers to the capital so that they can tour museums, monuments, and the epicenter of our government.

They were at the Lincoln memorial, where at about any given time there are going to be protesters/demonstrators.

The chaperones for many schools are parents or volunteers, although I'm not sure if they were staff in this case, if they are staff, they will probably be punished.

I'm more blown away that a smiling 16 year old pissed of a big portion of the country when some middle aged Black Israelites straight up told the American Indians that they lost their land because they were worshiping totem poles.... Or when they called the white kids crackers and products of incests, or called the two Black kids in the group n####s.

That apparently is fine, because they weren't smiling, which is disrespectful.

Is everyone sure they're not getting trolled by the Russians again

And what of the faces that comey made while he was testifying?
Those were child like,like a spoiled brat that knows they did wrong and got caught but knows they won’t get it trouble.

originally posted by: CriticalStinker
a reply to: Subaeruginosa

Plenty of schools in America bring teenagers to the capital so that they can tour museums, monuments, and the epicenter of our government.

They were at the Lincoln memorial, where at about any given time there are going to be protesters/demonstrators.

The chaperones for many schools are parents or volunteers, although I'm not sure if they were staff in this case, if they are staff, they will probably be punished.

I'm more blown away that a smiling 16 year old pissed of a big portion of the country when some middle aged Black Israelites straight up told the American Indians that they lost their land because they were worshiping totem poles.... Or when they called the white kids crackers and products of incests, or called the two Black kids in the group n####s.

That apparently is fine, because they weren't smiling, which is disrespectful.

It's strange. Everyone excuses the blatant, overt racism of the activists in order to focus on the imaginary racism of the kids. The irony is breathtaking, but they're actually serious.

I have the face for radio....

originally posted by: CriticalStinker
a reply to: Subaeruginosa
I'm more blown away that a smiling 16 year old pissed of a big portion of the country when some middle aged Black Israelites straight up told the American Indians that they lost their land because they were worshiping totem poles.... Or when they called the white kids crackers and products of incests, or called the two Black kids in the group n####s.

Yeah, I know right...

That's why I'm saying its the guardians and/or teachers who had a duty of care, who should be at blame here, for allowing this incident to escalate... Clearly those fanatical activist were not right in the head, nothing positive was ever going to be accomplished by allowing the students to approach them.

I hope someone gets fired for the complete incompetence of allowing this incident to occur... then hopefully the whole "outrage" over how these school kids handled the situation, just blows over and everyone just gets over it.

It really is a non issue.