America's New Favorite Pastime: Ratioing Deadspin into Oblivion

When a concerned father from a marginalized group goes on prime time cable news to say the way a certain media outlet went after his 9 year old son "has been scary and overwhelming" for the boy, there's no way for said media outlet to come back from that. Simply no way. Some damage can just never be undone.

One of the most enduring lessons the 20th century taught us was the awesome power of marketing. From Darren Stevens on Bewitched to Don Draper on Mad Men, advertising professionals have shaped civilization. They've turned small ideas into multi-billion dollar conglomerates. Taken the logos for soft drinks and burger joints and made them into instantly recognizable symbols of American culture around the globe. Gotten Presidents and Prime Ministers elected the world over. 

And they've done so by turning your goods, your services, your candidacy, into a brand. Then got the public to associate your brand with some fundamental aspect of their lives.

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But branding is the classic example of a double edged sword. At one time, cigarettes were considered the ultimate in style and elegance. Sexually desirable people in movies waved them around or held them between their lips as part of the mating ritual. Hell, they were downright patriotic and heroic. The tobacco companies put them in Red Cross packages for our GIs fighting overseas. "Lucky Strike won the war" was an actual slogan. Until it was replaced with the unofficial but more accurate one, "Lucky Strike did what Imperial Japan couldn't: Send your father to an early grave, gasping for air." 

But turning cigarettes from the thing you want to have on your lips as you're trying to seduce Ingrid Bergman, into the symbol of death you're forced to take outside the bar in shame in order to enjoy, took a couple of generations. Deadspin went from The Coolest Kids of the Internet to completely irrelevant in the span of about three years. Then went from irrelevant to a national pariah in the time it took to post one article. The one attacking Bubba Armenta's Native American 9-year-old as a dangerous White Supremacist who must be stopped:

A few people have tried to defend Deadspin. By either blaming the outrage on far-right nutjobs or actually claiming they were right in saying the Armenta boy was, in fact, being racist. The Dan LeBatard Show, for one:

But the vast, vast majority of Americans seem to be of one mind on this issue. Not many things will unite these Disunited States these days. But protecting a child whose only sin is painting his face in team colors and wearing the proud symbols of his cultural heritage against attacks from a disreputable media outlet will bring us together more than any natural disaster. 

The writer of the hit piece on the Armenta family has turned off his comments. Deadspin has not. And the X/Twitterverse is making them pay with a relentless barrage of negativity the likes of which social media has never seen before. They're being ratioed into the Oort Cloud with every post. No matter how unrelated, innocuous, oft-putting, and tediously boring they are. Just look at these numbers.

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Six likes to 350 replies? Has that ever happened in the history of this site? But it continues. 50-to-1 comments to likes. 40-to-1. Consistently. Across the board. No one is liked by everybody; these cowardly, Low-T, wannabe schoolyard bullies aren't liked by anybody. Virtually no one is coming to their defense or even responding to their posts with anything but contempt. 

Here's a random sample, with the replies under the corresponding Tweet. Note that the replies are, in fact, getting likes. They're the only show in @Deadspin town:

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And here's just a random one I include because I respect the verbiage:

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Now at this point, it's customary to say something like "Please stop! These people have families!" But I wont do it here. Because protecting families came off the table the instant Deadspin hit the "Publish" button on an attack article against someone else's elementary school aged child without considering or caring what effect it would have on his family. 

I stand with those who stand with the Armentas and support every child's right to dress up in his team's colors. I also stand with those who are ratioing Deadspin into dust. They've helped restore my faith in humanity. And the ratio Deadspin is receiving is the first entertainment this irredeemably damaged brand has ever given us. Good riddance.