Yet another incident of racism caught on camera is swirling around social media, this time in Washington County. And the repercussions for the man at the center of it were swift and final: he was fired from his job as a plumber. Susan Khalaf of Aloha posted a video on Facebook on Tuesday of what appears to be a man clapping his hands and yelling a racist slur at her out the window of his car. The man started yelling vulgar terms at Khalaf…. She then took a video of the man on her phone when the shouting continued at the next red light. The man, driving a red SUV, is shown yelling several derogatory terms, including one used to describe those who immigrated illegally from Mexico, while clapping his hands. Khalaf repeatedly said back to the man that she is Arab before he drove away. The incident occurred in Beaverton, Khalaf said.
It was from any point of view a horribly traumatic and despicable act. A man in traffic screams racial epithets at a woman in the next lane…all while knowing full well that she’s recording his brain-dead meltdown on her cell phone. Though she’s an Arab-American of Jordanian descent, the man is shouting insults normally targeted at Hispanics. To call his conduct stupid and offensive wouldn’t begin to do justice to the offensively inexplicable nature of his behavior.
At the very least, at least get your ethincally-disparaging epithets right, eh?
The woman then posts the video to her Facebook page. Before long it goes viral…and then the fun begins. The Internet, (not exactly) home to those who react to such outrages with calm, rational deliberation, leapt to the fray, and before long the man in the video was an Internet star for all the wrong reasons. Keep in mind that what the man did, while thoroughly offensive, broke no laws and is considered protected speech under the 1st Amendment. As I’ve often said, free speech can be, and very often is, offensive and abhorrent speech. There’s no law or constitutional provision proscribing a person from being a right asshole.
Social media users identified the man as an employee of a Troutdale plumbing company. Sgt. Bob Ray, a Washington County Sheriff’s Office spokesman, said the man is Joseph Metoxen, a 35-year-old who lives in Aloha.
Ray said Metoxen called the sheriff’s office Tuesday night because he was worried for his safety after seeing the video gaining traction on Facebook.
Deputies looked into his background, Ray said, and found he was wanted on a municipal warrant for criminal mischief in Beaverton that was not related to the road rage incident. Metoxen was arrested at his home, Ray said.
A statement from the president of Wolcott Plumbing said the man had worked there since spring of 2012 and had been “immediately terminated” following the video.
We can debate whether the man deserved to lose his job (I’d fall on the side of “quite probably yes”). My concern is discerning when an appropriately negative reaction to such blatant ignorance and racism cross the line and become piling on? There’s no doubt but that Metoxen was in the wrong- stupidly, horribly, irretrievably so. There’s no excusing such such offensive behavior, and the stupidity of continuing when he knew he was being recorded speaks to a lack of mental acuity and human decency I can’t even begin to fathom.
That said, he’s lost his job, which isn’t an insubstantial consequence. With his face and voice now all over social media, he may not be able to find a job anywhere in the Portland area. He’s also been threatened, so much so that he’s felt it necessary to contact law enforcement over concerns for his safety.
So, Metoxen did something incredibly, unbelievably stupid and offensive. I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he’s well and properly chastened and regrets his actions. That being the case, how much punishment is enough? The Internet, not being renowned for its predilection for mercy, seems fully prepared to utterly destroy him…but when is enough just that? When do we forgive a person their transgressions and allow them to begin to try and make things right? IS there a mistake so horrible, so egregious, so beyond the pale that a person DESERVES to be destroyed- utterly and completely? How many of us would wish to be granted a second chance if/when we screw up?
Mercy, it seems, is not something readily and easily found on the Internet.
