Shaming and Social Media

I think this is a very interesting topic to write about with it being Election Day in our country. I don’t think I’ve ever seen more barking back and forth between two ideologies since I have been on social media. When talking about Public Shaming and social media, sadly, they go hand in hand in this day in age. Being able to voice your opinion freely and really post “whatever” your moral compass can allow, is brilliant about social media and for that matter, our country. I believe that this sort of model is so healthy for a society to function and grow as a unit. Sadly, with this freedom of expression comes with a lot of people that can not handle that freedom. That this freedom becomes too much for them and given that you don’t agree with said opinion, you’re automatically, stupid and incapable, for some of the cleaner names that tend to pop up on social media. This is just the harsh reality that we live in, then we have cases such as Justine Sacco’s tweet that really wasn’t the smartest thing to send out, especially when she couldn’t even check Twitter on the plane. Another example of this would be Michelle Ferrier’s article that received countless amounts of ridicule because people did not agree with her opinion. In this day in age we see this so much and to be frank, its more than sad. In regards to Monica Lewinsky, the shaming she got for what happened with her and Bill Clinton is completely awful. I’m not going to speak about the scandal because thats not what I’m here to write about. I just think in situations like this people should drop the subject and move on. The media has a tendency of not letting things go, which in this case, almost destroyed a women’s life. Anyways, I know that you can not please everyone and someone will always have a problem with something, but using your best judgement on social media in my opinion is KEY. In class on Monday we talked about using our best judgement and how people sometimes overstep that. With this sort of Public Shaming/Harassment, this makes for people not wanting to express their opinions, which as I said earlier, is what makes social media great. I’m not sure really how you would be able to make social media a “safer” place because you will always have those sort of people that can not handle the freedom.