Association of Online Community Moderators
Fun With Jesse Jackson
After hitting a wall of “blank” here, unable to think of a single topic, it was suggested to me that maybe I should just tell some stories drawn from my experiences online. I guess I’ll do that…. Anyone who knows me knows that I can weave a story from just about anything. :-)
So, here’s a story.
It was 1999. You may remember the story in the news about a fight in the stands at a Decatur, Illinois high school football game. Many were upset that the boys were given a two-year expulsion… until a videotape of the brawl was released, which had been shot by a parent. Personally, I found it terrifying to watch. The young men involved were engaged so violently, while older people were knocked to the ground trying to get out of the way, mothers hurried to cover their children, brawlers flew over the rails while viciously battling. It was far more than a shoving match. The punishment no longer seemed so extreme to many, especially when it was revealed that 3 of the 7 were third-year freshman, and there was a combined total of more than 350 missed days of school among them all.
You may also remember CNN’s show “Crossfire.” The idea was to debate various issues, with one host coming from a liberal perspective, and one coming from a conservative perspective. They would include guests who were also known to be from each political “side.” So, on this night in 1999, the Decatur brawl was the topic, and Jesse Jackson was one of the guests from the left. Jackson had minimized the brawl as “something silly, like children do,” and thought it appropriate that they should be returned to school after the winter break. Others, of course, vehemently disagreed. Jackson had gone to Decatur to organize marches and to support these sweet little pranksters.
At the time, I was involved with frequent online chats immediately following the airing of Crossfire. We’d arrange to have one or more of the guests sit down right after the show, and we’d take questions from our large chat audience. I’d be on the phone with the show guests, and would type for at least one of them, sometimes both. It was really fun and challenging. It took a great deal of focus to watch the chat room for really good questions for our guests, while delivering the questions to them, then transcribing their answers live into the chat room, all without any lengthy delays or “dead time.” It was like writing complicated software code while rocking an infant and juggling live hedgehogs.
That night, I was getting prepared, as the show was winding down. I had a few preliminary questions chosen, and was on the phone with one of the assistant producers, who would be the one to lead Reverend Jackson over to the phone for the online chat. I had the show on, half-listening to it winding down. At the time, the current hosts were Bill Press from the left and Pat Buchanan from the right. It’s no surprise that Buchanan felt that the book needed to be thrown at the brawlers, but (especially after the release of the video) even the left-leaning hosts and guests were struggling to disagree. The exception, of course, was Jesse Jackson.
Each night the show hosts would use the last segment to summarize the debate. I don’t really remember if the host from each “side” would have a shot, or if just one did, but on this particular night, it was Bill Press, from the liberal side, with the last word. By this time, the guests no longer had hot mics, and some may have already been leaving, or not listening to the wrap-up. Not so with the Reverend Jackson. As Bill Press (who by right should have been on Jackson’s “team”) summed things up, he said unfavorable things about the “boys” involved in the brawl, and his final words were “Jesse, go home.”
Within about 15 seconds, Jackson and the assistant producer were both on the line with me. How can I say this… Jackson. Was. Livid. He was ranting and shouting. He was so upset that he wasn’t even rhyming. Normally at this point, I would launch into my spiel about how the chat would work, welcoming the guest and saying something like “I’m Susie, and I’ll be your typist tonight. We’ll give you a question from our live chat audience, and then I’ll type your answers for you, into the chat room. Please remember to speak slowly enough so that I can keep up with you, and accurately transcribe your answers and comments.” I tried to deliver the speech, really, I did. Jackson, however, did not care about what I was saying, and probably never heard it. He was raving to me, to the assistant producer, and I assume to anyone who walked past in the CNN studio where he was sitting. The AsstProd and I were in private messages, trying to decide how to handle it. Finally it was, “Are we doing this?” and then a “What the heck, let’s try. Maybe he’ll calm down once we start.” Ha.
So we started. If you’ve ever heard Reverend Jackson talk when he’s NOT upset, it’s a mile a minute on a normal day. My typing speed (at the time) was in the 125+ wpm range, and I was a pretty good live transcriptionist, with a LOT of these chats under my belt. This time… no way. Over and over, the AsstProd and I suggested that Jackson slow down a bit, so that I could even get close to an accurate portrayal of what he was saying. No dice. I’m not even sure he heard our questions. He was just raving about Press’ final “Jesse, go home,” and the situation in general. I typed and typed and typed, left the questions to the AsstProd, and hoped there was SOME coherence to it all. There really wasn’t. I just typed whatever I was hearing, getting maybe ten percent of it, and didn’t take time to correct any errors. After about 30 minutes, we gave up, said goodnight, and ended the chat.
Definitely not my best work, but possibly the most memorable live chat ever!
So, here’s a story.
It was 1999. You may remember the story in the news about a fight in the stands at a Decatur, Illinois high school football game. Many were upset that the boys were given a two-year expulsion… until a videotape of the brawl was released, which had been shot by a parent. Personally, I found it terrifying to watch. The young men involved were engaged so violently, while older people were knocked to the ground trying to get out of the way, mothers hurried to cover their children, brawlers flew over the rails while viciously battling. It was far more than a shoving match. The punishment no longer seemed so extreme to many, especially when it was revealed that 3 of the 7 were third-year freshman, and there was a combined total of more than 350 missed days of school among them all.
You may also remember CNN’s show “Crossfire.” The idea was to debate various issues, with one host coming from a liberal perspective, and one coming from a conservative perspective. They would include guests who were also known to be from each political “side.” So, on this night in 1999, the Decatur brawl was the topic, and Jesse Jackson was one of the guests from the left. Jackson had minimized the brawl as “something silly, like children do,” and thought it appropriate that they should be returned to school after the winter break. Others, of course, vehemently disagreed. Jackson had gone to Decatur to organize marches and to support these sweet little pranksters.
At the time, I was involved with frequent online chats immediately following the airing of Crossfire. We’d arrange to have one or more of the guests sit down right after the show, and we’d take questions from our large chat audience. I’d be on the phone with the show guests, and would type for at least one of them, sometimes both. It was really fun and challenging. It took a great deal of focus to watch the chat room for really good questions for our guests, while delivering the questions to them, then transcribing their answers live into the chat room, all without any lengthy delays or “dead time.” It was like writing complicated software code while rocking an infant and juggling live hedgehogs.
That night, I was getting prepared, as the show was winding down. I had a few preliminary questions chosen, and was on the phone with one of the assistant producers, who would be the one to lead Reverend Jackson over to the phone for the online chat. I had the show on, half-listening to it winding down. At the time, the current hosts were Bill Press from the left and Pat Buchanan from the right. It’s no surprise that Buchanan felt that the book needed to be thrown at the brawlers, but (especially after the release of the video) even the left-leaning hosts and guests were struggling to disagree. The exception, of course, was Jesse Jackson.
Each night the show hosts would use the last segment to summarize the debate. I don’t really remember if the host from each “side” would have a shot, or if just one did, but on this particular night, it was Bill Press, from the liberal side, with the last word. By this time, the guests no longer had hot mics, and some may have already been leaving, or not listening to the wrap-up. Not so with the Reverend Jackson. As Bill Press (who by right should have been on Jackson’s “team”) summed things up, he said unfavorable things about the “boys” involved in the brawl, and his final words were “Jesse, go home.”
Within about 15 seconds, Jackson and the assistant producer were both on the line with me. How can I say this… Jackson. Was. Livid. He was ranting and shouting. He was so upset that he wasn’t even rhyming. Normally at this point, I would launch into my spiel about how the chat would work, welcoming the guest and saying something like “I’m Susie, and I’ll be your typist tonight. We’ll give you a question from our live chat audience, and then I’ll type your answers for you, into the chat room. Please remember to speak slowly enough so that I can keep up with you, and accurately transcribe your answers and comments.” I tried to deliver the speech, really, I did. Jackson, however, did not care about what I was saying, and probably never heard it. He was raving to me, to the assistant producer, and I assume to anyone who walked past in the CNN studio where he was sitting. The AsstProd and I were in private messages, trying to decide how to handle it. Finally it was, “Are we doing this?” and then a “What the heck, let’s try. Maybe he’ll calm down once we start.” Ha.
So we started. If you’ve ever heard Reverend Jackson talk when he’s NOT upset, it’s a mile a minute on a normal day. My typing speed (at the time) was in the 125+ wpm range, and I was a pretty good live transcriptionist, with a LOT of these chats under my belt. This time… no way. Over and over, the AsstProd and I suggested that Jackson slow down a bit, so that I could even get close to an accurate portrayal of what he was saying. No dice. I’m not even sure he heard our questions. He was just raving about Press’ final “Jesse, go home,” and the situation in general. I typed and typed and typed, left the questions to the AsstProd, and hoped there was SOME coherence to it all. There really wasn’t. I just typed whatever I was hearing, getting maybe ten percent of it, and didn’t take time to correct any errors. After about 30 minutes, we gave up, said goodnight, and ended the chat.
Definitely not my best work, but possibly the most memorable live chat ever!
Comment
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Comment by Susie on January 3, 2009 at 12:27pm - Oh man... I had completely forgotten that he got arrested! If I could have cyber-arrested him that night, I surely would have.
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Comment by Michael Pinkerton on January 2, 2009 at 7:33pm -
Haha I like that - he wasn't even rhyming. I found Jackson's mug shot from his Decatur arrest: criminal trespass and contributing to the delinquency of a minor in connection with a demonstration protesting the expulsion of the six students who were kicked out of school for fighting. Good stuff, Susie!
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Comment by Maxxwell Tomorrow on December 31, 2008 at 9:38pm - I love Susie stories! I KNOW I would have never been able to continue and would have been far too intimidated to carry on.
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