∞

“As for the little beasts who tormented her on that fateful bus ride, two of them have apologized, but Klein isn’t really buying it. One of the punks, Josh, wrote a statement saying, “I am so sorry for the way I treated you. When I saw the video I was disgusted and could not believe I did that.” After Anderson read that to Klein, she shrugged and said, “Of course he’s gonna say anything. Josh always has a smirk on his face… He always likes to cause trouble. So I don’t think I’d believe anything Josh has to say.” Aw. Indiegogo fundraiser for poor unpardonable Josh!

—

Yeah, pretty much. My emotional roller-coaster throughout this story:

- disgusted and really sad. I felt so bad for the woman. I cried to my mom. 

- inspired by the out-pouring of humanity to raise the fund. learned that reddit started it and not shocked at all. great example of the best kind of digital community.

- good pr play, southwest.

- $500,000+ raised?! This WaPo article pretty much sums it up: “For starters, “virality” is neither good nor bad, it just is. While there is obviously no moral equivalence between the bullies and the donors to the fund established on Klein’s behalf, both reflect the fact that people like to join with others, and things which they might not otherwise do alone, for good or for bad, suddenly make great sense when done in community.

SOURCE: At $500K, Is It Time To Put The Brakes On Karen The Bus Monitor Fundraising?: Gothamist