A racially charged BuzzFeed article has attracted nearly 1.5 millions views in less than 48 hours — and a wave of backlash.
BuzzFeed readers have blasted a listicle titled “19 School Powerpoint Presentations That Give Zero F****.” U.K.-based writer Hattie Soykan’s work on classroom slideshows includes a collection of images blaming a “plague” of white people for the world’s ills.
Some of the presentations featured in the story include images that say “White people are a plague to the planet,” “How white people plagued society,” “White people are crazy,” and “White people are dangerous.”
The writer’s work was one of BuzzFeed’s top trending stories as of Wednesday morning.
“I’ve finally had it with this site,” wrote reader Jessica Plank on Monday. “Promoting racism, good job. This article is cancerous and so is your site, just like most media outlets. Doesn’t help anything, only makes the situation worse.”
“White people are: 1) A Plague 2) Crazy 3) Dangerous,” added Jake Jenkins. “That would seem to make them inferior to others as a race. When people think one race is inferior to another they’re … there’s a word for that … umm … it’s at the tip of my tongue.”
“Way to widen the gap between bigots and the black community. It adds fire to the flames,” added BuzzFeed reader Emily Booth.
The story, which was covered by conservative news outlets The Daily Caller and The Blaze, is reminiscent of a November tweet by Hollywood actor Lena Dunham. The HBO “Girls” star and her father Carroll celebrated the “extinction of white men” in an animated video released Nov. 2.
“White men are a problem. Straight white men are a big problem, that’s for sure. But I actually feel pretty good about it. I think straight white guys have been screwing things up for long enough,” Mr. Dunham said.
“That’s my dad!” the actor said as the two laughed.
It’s not the end of men, it’s the evolution of men into better men. (beautiful animation by Sophie Koko Gate!) pic.twitter.com/Qtf0xyT5Ad
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) November 2, 2016
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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