Netflix Employee Walkout - Transactivism in Microcosm

[EsmaCannonball]

mobile.twitter.com/rawsalerts/status/1450894069601914894

This is funny and sinister in equal measure.

Netflix employees in California staged a walkout in the wake of the recent Dave Chappelle special. A man was counter-protesting with a 'We Love Dave' sign. A transactivist physically accosts the man, rips up his sign and leaves him holding just the stick it was attached to. The transactivist then shouts, 'He's got a weapon!' giving the crowd the excuse they have been waiting for to jostle a peaceful protester backwards and shout abuse at him. One transactivist then drowns him out by rattling some jingles an inch from his face, while another (who would be great casting for a Netflix remake of The Crucible) repeatedly screams in his face, 'Repent, motherfucker!'

Like the Wi-Spa video, this is kind of perfect. It shows transactivists physically attacking someone, falsely claiming that person is the threat, and then using that to legitimise their own aggression. It all feels so familiar.

I don't know anything about the guy counter-protesting. He could be someone with whom I would agree with nothing except this. But he is absolutely right here and he deals with the situation so well. He makes them all look insane.

Here's the video on it from one of the "We Like Jokes" counter-protestors (a pair of YouTube comedians).

@SoniaFouler

And yet it gets reported like

And in Variety's thread they go on to describe the feminist / pro-free-speech counter demonstration as 'mostly white women'. No mention of the skin colour or sex of the trans activists demonstrating against Dave Chappelle, funnily enough.

The guy who broke up the sign and then shouts he's got a weapon needs to be prosecuted. He looks like a thug, a middle aged, middle class thug.

Mostly white women?

Were they talking about the TRAs?

I see the funny side of this but I can't bring myself to laugh, giggle, or even make that sound of air leaving my lungs when something is uncomfortably funny because I am just aghast at the He's Got A Weapon dude.

People have been killed for that!

I hope that guy in particular gets fired.

By the 13th of October 10 million people had watched Chappelle's The Closer. I guess with all the fuss even more will have watched it. That's a lot of people who will think about "team TERF".

Cor

That was an enlightening watch. Thanks for posting

@Couchbettato

I see the funny side of this but I can't bring myself to laugh, giggle, or even make that sound of air leaving my lungs when something is uncomfortably funny because I am just aghast at the He's Got A Weapon dude.

People have been killed for that!

I hope that guy in particular gets fired.

I agree

I said to dh when i saw this this morning that weapon yeller meant for the dave loving guy to be attacked…

And in Variety's thread they go on to describe the feminist / pro-free-speech counter demonstration as 'mostly white women'.

Jesus

Racism and sexism (we all know what that snide little comment means. ‘We shouldn’t be listening to these people who are unreasonable by virtue of their sex and race’).

Nice work Variety!

The person the BBC is reporting to be an organiser is a trans woman of colour. (Interestingly an established 'media personality' and not a Netflix employee, which kind of changes the narrative a bit doesn't it?)

I am just aghast at the He's Got A Weapon dude.

Yep, that's fucking nasty. But these people are so convinced they're on the side of righteousness that they can internally justify almost anything.

The sign-holder's take on it from the video I linked above:

Somebody asked me, a journalist asked me, he said "is the same guy who broke your stick the one who yelled 'he's got a weapon'?". I was like, "I don't know, it was too much going on, I assume not, because that's ridiculous."

No. It's literally the guy who broke... he knew he broke my sign, he knows that what I'm holding is what's remaining of my sign, and he yells "he's got a weapon". Okay. Do you guys know why he's doing that? He's doing that because the hope is that a security guard or, god forbid, like a police officer hears that and goes "he's got a weapon", pulls his you know sidearm, and puts a couple bullets in my chest, or at least like, you know, that the mob descends on me and goes "he's got a weapon, we got to stop this this active violent guy".

Like literally the only reason i can think of to yell that is that you want immediate harm to come to that person, so you want to tell everyone "oh he's violent, he's got a weapon". Like, you know, "get him". Luckily the crowd was not that stupid where they go "no, he's holding the half of a stick from the sign you just destroyed".

Okay. Well, when I thought someone just random in the crowd yelled that I wasn't as mad but now that I know a Netflix writer tried to get me killed I'm a little not happy. That sucks. That's really shitty, dude.

Okay. Well, when I thought someone just random in the crowd yelled that I wasn't as mad but now that I know a Netflix writer tried to get me killed I'm a little not happy. That sucks. That's really shitty, dude

Master of understatement there 😀

Okay. Well, when I thought someone just random in the crowd yelled that I wasn't as mad but now that I know a Netflix writer tried to get me killed I'm a little not happy. That sucks. That's really shitty, dude.

The Netflix writer/sign breaking/he has a weapon guys name is all over twitter. Jesse Singal is trying to get an interview.

I've just watched the comedian's own video, posted above. The Black Lives Matter stuff is also illuminating. He and his friend are holding their signs and chanting, 'We like jokes! Jokes are funny!' in support of the free speech of a black comedian, and white people in the crowd immediately respond by chanting, 'Black lives matter!' then get even more upset when the guy agrees with them. When they have no logical counter-argument they straw man you with accusations of racism, and when that doesn't work they attack you and claim you were asking for it because you are 'literally' violent. They are desperate to claim that anyone who disagrees with them (presumably Chappelle himself) is racist, because they know that gender woo-woo holds no water. The comedian also claims his friend banged his head after a masked man in the crowd pushed him to the ground, and that Antifa chased after their car. Protesting in favour of free speech can make you a lifelong target for cancellation and violence. That's where we are now.

At the point she starts shaking her tambourine in his face and squeaking 'repent motherfucker!' I was crying with laughter.

Someone get the person of as yet undefined gender choice and pronouns a few gourds and bones to shake, the Netflix witchdoctor is on the job!

Madder than a box of frogs. Absolute farce.

And (these things are getting predictable) I've just seen Jesse Singal has pointed out that the organiser of the walkout has a history of racist and misogynistic tweets.

That was a tinderbox of a situation.

It looked to me as though the guy with a placard managed to size it all up pretty swiftly, throwing the remaining bit of his placard on the ground and holding his arms aloft.

But these thugs have discovered that the words he's got a weapon is a way to incite violence.

He should be jailed.

@Artichokeleaves

At the point she starts shaking her tambourine in his face and squeaking 'repent motherfucker!' I was crying with laughter.

Someone get the person of as yet undefined gender choice and pronouns a few gourds and bones to shake, the Netflix witchdoctor is on the job!

Madder than a box of frogs. Absolute farce.

Perfectly put, nice to have some laughter on this board

What is the individual with the hands up and body inches from the lone protestor doing? What is that behaviour supposed to achieve - it is such a deliberate and continued stance that it obviously has some aim? I honestly don’t understand why that is being done!

That was a tinderbox of a situation.

This isn't necessarily "transactivism in microcosm", so much as a glimpse at a more general antifa protest playbook. They've got operational manuals on some of these tactics, such as trying to provoke violence while maintaining plausible deniability.

But this crowd are at the less-attached-to-reality end, and hence aren't that professional at putting into practice, and it all ends up rather farcical.

And the fact that we've got censorious mobs using "anti-fascist" tactics against comedians shows how much trouble we're in.

Good god, both the bearded comedian and his friend could have been killed. One by the guy in blue shoving him over and cracking his head off the concrete pavement, and the other by the Netflix 'he's got a weapon' guy. Surely this needs police involvement, and an internal investigation by Netflix. The comedian's video of this is absolutely shocking, and I'm not surprised he's quite shaken up when he goes through the recordings.

What is the individual with the hands up and body inches from the lone protestor doing?

Trying to provoke him into hitting her, or pushing her. Any sort of contact would be claimed to be an assault by him.

Even as it was, Variety went with the false headline "At times, the #NetflixWalkout situation threatened to devolve as counter protestors pushed against trans speakers."

twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1450979659865366534

Anyway shouldn’t it be “repent birthing-person fucker”
🤣🤣🤣

I’m so grateful to whoever videoed that encounter, it’s all the evidence we need. Right side of history, my arse.

@DefineHappy

What is the individual with the hands up and body inches from the lone protestor doing? What is that behaviour supposed to achieve - it is such a deliberate and continued stance that it obviously has some aim? I honestly don’t understand why that is being done!

I guess its some kind of attempt of making a show of blocking the victim, ie trying to pretend they are a threat. Its all about theatre and playing the victim.