A few mini rants about internet culture that bug me:
Live tweeting people’s private conversations – It’s one
thing to listen in and mock someone’s inane conversation with a pal, but sharing
it online is just weird and plain creepy.
What is the point of sharing what is going down between two people? Are you trying to prove how much above the fray
of normal vulnerable moments? The live
conversation tweeting is a display of such smugness as I can never get what is
trying to be proven or validated other than the posters ego. Is the live tweeter trying to start a fundamental
change in the way people associate with each other and if so, why is he doing
it in the way of an NSA spy? I feel that
the endgame of these live tweets is to create a society where everybody is rehearsed
and on their best behavior in every aspect of their lives, especially their
private moments (you can never be too sure about who is listening or tweeting). Anybody with a phone becomes a potential
documentarian to what you thought was a private moment thus leaving us
perpetually on edge. The only remedy to these
problems is to go the Derek Jeter route and force everybody to check their
phones in at the door lest somebody has the urge to document the innocent
meeting of two strangers on an Amtrak train for the amusement of a hungry and
ravenous internet public.
Twitter Shaming – I’m curious to hear what happens after a
person gets Twitter or online shamed?
What happens after somebody writes something that is offensive and
stupid and then the collective force that is the internet watchdog unleashes its
ever righteous power on a lone person? Usually
we hear that the person being shamed has been fired and they become a pariah and
punch line before the we move on to the next deplorable action to commands a shaming. But I’m curious as to what happens after the
spotlight has been dimmed and the shamed has to go on leading their life
knowing that their name will not produce a favorable Google search. This isn’t to say that these people don’t
deserve a comeuppance or that vile speech should be permitted without any consequence,
but is it fair to ruin the lives of others over moments of stupidity. These shamings have the goal of exposing horrid
behavior to the public in a way to educate the ignorant and hateful but I don’t
really see working that way for all the people being shamed. I see the person of an internet shaming
becoming bitter and closed off to the point these online do-gooders were trying
to instill. I would love to see a follow
up piece to the shamed and see if they are grateful for being taught a very
public lesson.
I don’t like especially when this happens to teens who say
dumb and offensive things because other than the argument of we all do really
bad things when we’re teenagers, I will contend that a public shaming doesn’t
have the effect it’s meant to have. A
public shaming is supposed to alert and educate those on their wrongful ideas
and behavior but will a teenager take that message to heart? I would image that having a million people
screaming at you would not feel so good (even if it is well deserved) and
imparts a bitter resolve to never change.
I would argue that it stunts the growth of these hateful youngsters because
it prevents them from going to places like college (due to their newfound notoriety)
where their views would be challenged and their minds hopefully opened and
expanded. College is the great expander
for a lot of people and the chance to open your bubble to ideas that you would
never consider or even come across. To
me this is better and more effective than yelling at some dumb 16 year
old. Send them to college and let them
meet people who aren’t in their hometown circle. If they still feel and have these hateful and
dumb ideas then I’m all for more shaming, but let’s wait until these kids have
had a chance to at least hit legal age before we damn them with a million
screaming voices.
Inspirational Porn – How inspired can you possibly get? If all it takes is a celebrity quoting a
common sense platitude to make you feel touched that’s sad. There has to be a point of inspiration overload
where all the inspirational videos and quotes just become meaningless and another
thing to mindlessly like and share. These
moments of supposed profundity have no meaning to me as they just blend into
each other. The only lesson I learned is
that somebody’s hardships and worst moments have been immortalized to make
other people feel marginally better about their own lives. Congratulations you have fulfilled your reason
for being on this planet, call us when you have another unspeakable tragedy
that we can exploit and use to motivate us when we’re having a case of the
Mondays. Otherwise thank you and goodbye
(I assume that’s how the conversation goes between the content sharer and the,
for lack of a better word, content provider).
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