Don’t Post That!
Jessica Porter
Community College of
Baltimore County
Abstract
In
recent years more and more people are having their lives ruined by social media
posts. Is this simply consequences of
careless actions or are we devolving as a society, by chasing online monsters
with virtual pitchforks?
We
have all heard the story and seen it play out in real life. A person uploads a provocative picture or
updates their status to something ridiculous on social media, and overnight
they become an infamous online celebrity.
That is exactly what happened to Lindsay Stone, when she posted a
picture of herself mocking a sign at the National Cemetery. The photograph caused thousands of people to
petition that Stone be fired from her job working with disabled people, in a private
nursing home. Stone did ultimately lose
her job due to public pressure, which leaves some of us asking what exactly is
a private life?
Unfortunately,
for Lindsay Stone her actions were taken out of context, by a population of
people who have confused American pride with fascism, who predictably, cried
foul and decided her life needed to be destroyed. Stone reportedly stated about her ordeal, “Literally
overnight everything I knew and loved was gone” (Rosen). She received death threat and rape threats as
well, just because of a picture. Some
people altered the picture to make it seem like she was giving an actual dead
solider the middle finger. She went from
simply mocking a “Be quiet and Respectful” sign to an American hating woman.
My
personal opinion on this subject matter is, no matter how distasteful I believe
something is whether I see it or hear it online or in person in America a
person has the right to say it. It is so
confusing to try to understand the mind set of people who call America the home
of the free, but then go out of their way to completely destroy a person for
having a different opinion than them. As
I stated before Mrs. Stone’s picture was taking out of context, but even if it
wasn’t see has the right to voice her own opinions. I don’t believe we should get in the business
of judging people on one Facebook post alone.
I would like to see in the future companies stand behind their employees
when foolishness like this arises again, but I highly doubt that will ever
happen. My advice to everyone is to keep
your profiles private and be careful who you share pictures and post with because
who knows who will be next!
References
Ronson,
J. ( 2015, February 21) The Internet Shaming Of Lindsay Stone. [Blog post].
www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/feb/21/the-internet-shaming-of -lindsay-stone-jon-ronson
Zimmerman,
N. (2012, November 11) Happy Now?: “Good Employee” Lindsay Stone Fired Over
Facebook Photo. [Blog Post].
www.gawker.com/5962796/happy-now-good-employee-lindsay-stone-fired-over-facebook-photo.
No comments:
Post a Comment