Fox News removed 5000 comments to story about Whitney Houston's death

Apparently the massive comment thread was so full of vile racial slurs that Fox decided to take it down and close commenting rather than moderate the thread. Many comments ran along the lines of "typical n****r."

And I bet you many of those Fox commenters don't think of themselves as bigots in their everyday life, which is possible because bigotry isn't a binary attribute of character. People have both bad and good sides. In the ideal version of themselves, they may consciously reject bigotry as immoral, but in the real associations that occur in their thoughts, or in the comments they might make anonymously or to a safe face-to-face audience that won't criticize them, a less admirable side can emerge. But this bigoted side is discounted as some sort of excusable exception, not REALLY who they are. Instead, the ideal self is regarded as the real self. So they can spew hate in a bigoted celebration of a tragic death, yet be offended in real life if someone picks up on the dark side of their views and suggests that they might harbor some racist attitudes.

And I haven't even mentioned the unconscious racial biases that affect perception and judgment.

I wonder how many comment threads after the death of Heath Ledger were rife with vile statements related to his race.

In no particular order, some other white celebs who died of drug overdoses: Marilyn Monroe, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Corey Haim, Chris Farley, John Belushi, Judy Garland, Sid Vicious, River Phoenix, Anissa Jones, Dana Plato, Elvis Presley, Keith Moon, Margaux Hemingway, Anna Nicole Smith and that guy from The Smashing Pumpkins. And I guess we could reasonably consider Kurt Cobain's suicide drug-related.

Comments

[Julie]

And Cass Elliot of the Mamas and the Papas.

It's been said everybody is racist to some degree. Many of us work on overcoming bigoted thoughts and actions. Cardinal principle: All people have value.

[NMissC]

Wow, how many folks could fill in the blank for the phrase "that guy from Smashing Pumpkins"?

"that guy from the Sex Pistols"
"that guy from the Grateful Dead"
"that guy from Blind Melon"
"that guy from Weezer"

(I think Keith Moon is probably too prominent to be "that guy from the Who". I can't even name the ones from Blind Melon and Weezer).