Stewart Butterfield, the co-founder of both Slack and Flickr, has condemned the The Wall Street Journal on Twitter for an editorial it published after the Charleston shooting. The WSJ described the massacre as "a problem that defies explanation" and claimed that "the system and philosophy of institutionalized racism identified by Dr. King no longer exists." Butterfield responded: "Pretending it doesn't exist is, cognitively, really hard work. And it is dishonest and unfair and cruel work too. It's its own violence."

"WSJ editorial board: fuck you!"

The tech entrepreneur compared the WSJ's editorial with Jon Stewart's Daily Show monologue on the same events. Stewart lamented America's inability to confront the "gaping racial wound that will not heal, yet we pretend doesn't exist," with Butterfield adding: "Acknowledging that we still have a very, very long way to go is literally the least anyone could do." He concludes: "WSJ editorial board: fuck you!"

Pretending it doesn't exist is, cognitively, really hard work. And it is dishonest and unfair and cruel work too. It's its own violence. — Stewart Butterfield (@stewart) June 22, 2015

Acknowledging that we still have a very, very long way to go is literally the least anyone could do. — Stewart Butterfield (@stewart) June 22, 2015

Butterfield's series of tweets also called attention to the problem of structural racism in the US, and how, as a white male, he's never had to consider that he might "die, or even be in danger, after getting pulled over by a cop."

The magnitude of the "acceptable injustices" is today much smaller than it was. But the sum of all of them is something I cannot imagine. — Stewart Butterfield (@stewart) June 22, 2015

It's never once even occurred to me that I might die, or even be in danger, after getting pulled over by a cop. — Stewart Butterfield (@stewart) June 22, 2015

I've never had anyone not want me to swim in their pool, use their bathroom, sit next to them on the bus, or be friends with their kids. — Stewart Butterfield (@stewart) June 22, 2015

I've never left a job interview or an investor pitch or a blind date wondering whether I was being judged for myself/my merits. — Stewart Butterfield (@stewart) June 22, 2015

Butterfield commented that although "WSJ editorials are meant to be spectacle ... there's a difference between their normal obnoxious horseshit & this one." He concludes: "It is obvious that this privilege is not equally distributed. The thousand little obstacles are constant & very real for many. And so is a racist sociopath with a gun. That's real. And the differential in where the cops' bullets land."