Didn’t mean to offend anyone. Truthfully. Was simply suggesting that two wrongs don’t make a right. I’ll go away for a bit now. SA
Posted by Stephen Amell on Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Arrow star Stephen Amell is taking time off from social media after his stunningly misguided defense of Texas in light of #IStandWithAhmed. Ahmed Mohamed, a young student in Texas, was arrested by the Irving, Texas police department yesterday for bringing a clock to school because some racist teacher couldn’t be convinced it wasn’t a bomb. Many people began to make the usual comments regarding Texas, saying things like, “Oh, of course this happened in Texas…” and, “Texas is in the news again for this stuff?” You know the ones we mean.
None of that sat well with Amell, who took to Twitter to voice his… uh, “concerns.”
Stereotyping Texas isn’t any better than stereotyping Ahmed. Just so we’re clear.
— Stephen Amell (@amellywood) September 16, 2015
O… oh. That’s… that’s kind of a weird thing to say, isn’t it?
1. I can’t believe I broke my rule and tweeted about an actual event. Staggering to remember that debates in 140 characters don’t work. — Stephen Amell (@amellywood) September 16, 2015
I can’t believe it, either. You’d better quit while you’re ahead. Oh, why do you have a number in front of your Tweet, it looks like you’ve got more to s–… oh please, no, stop. Wait!
2. What happened to Ahmed was terrible. Obviously.
— Stephen Amell (@amellywood) September 16, 2015
Y… yeah. Okay…
3. I happened to read a series of tweets pronouncing that this is a systemic problem in Texas, which is also profiling. — Stephen Amell (@amellywood) September 16, 2015
… no. What? That’s… that’s not profiling. That’s not profiling at all.
4. It’s profiling in a much less hurtful / destructive way… but it is profiling.
— Stephen Amell (@amellywood) September 16, 2015
That some “reverse racism” mental gymnastics right there.
5. Anywho, I’m not apologizing or deleting the tweets. If you’re outraged at an opinion it’s because you’re bored. — Stephen Amell (@amellywood) September 16, 2015
Anyone else get the feeling they’re suddenly reading an argument between your older family members on Facebook?
6. My wife is from Texas, I have extended family in Texas, and I’ve met thousands of Texans that are wonderful, polite individuals.
— Stephen Amell (@amellywood) September 16, 2015
Oh. Are you boiling down your argument to #NotAllTexans now?
Didn’t mean to offend anyone. Truthfully. Was simply suggesting that two wrongs don’t make a right. I’ll go away for a bit now. SA — Stephen Amell (@amellywood) September 16, 2015
And he’s off.
It’s incredibly disappointing to see someone whose work you enjoy totally muck it up on social media. It’s even worse when it comes to commenting on major issues like the ones around Mohamed. Up until now, Amell had been mostly great on social media. Maybe his rule of not tweeting about real life events was a good rule–but then again, we never would have known how he actually felt about these things.
The bottom line is that he was completely off base with these tweets. Texas doesn’t need defending. Moreover, the clearly problematic systems and institutions within Texas sure as hell don’t need defending. Amell’s inability to recognize where the disproportionately distributed power lies was his downfall. Acknowledging that what happened to Mohamed was a terrible thing does not give you the excuse to say all that other stuff.
It’s likely Amell realized his mistake before he was done with this thread. He tweeted a few more things about how he’s used everyone’s reaction to his tweets as a kind of… filter, I guess?
7. This gave me an excellent opportunity to block several employees of a couple companies I don’t like. That’s exciting.
— Stephen Amell (@amellywood) September 16, 2015
Then he tried to deflect by placing the attention back onto Mohamed’s invitation to the White House.
8. Last thing: Ahmed’s White House visit will be an awesome, awesome moment. — Stephen Amell (@amellywood) September 16, 2015
For now, Amell is off social media. His accounts on Facebook and Twitter remain active, but he’s removed his profile pictures and stopped posting. The break might be a good idea, but forgive us if we doubt that he’ll actually change his mind or learn anything from this debacle. Only time will tell.
I’m sorry to say: you’ve failed this city.
(via Comic Book Resources)
—Please make note of The Mary Sue’s general comment policy.—
Do you follow The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?
