The Flip Side Of Internet Fame Analysis

Posts on the Internet Can Last Forever
There are many problems that can result from postings on the Internet. These range from humiliation to unfounded accusations and more. In her essay “The Flip Side of Internet Fame,” Jessica Bennett details problems that some people have experienced as a result of postings that others have made. She describes problems that happen because some websites permit anonymous posts. She also gives examples from the past that show some of the histories of public shaming. Bennett wants people to be aware of these problems, to understand why they are difficult to prosecute, and that they can remain online for a long time.
The essay begins with Ghyslain Raza, a Canadian teenager from Canada who once filmed himself acting out a fight scene from a “Star Wars” movie using a homemade light saber. In the video, Raza is a chubby teen who is very
serious about his performance even though he is rather awkward. Raza never intended for anyone else to see the film, but a year later, another student found it and posted it on the Internet. The video was a popular success for everyone except Raza. The video was viewed millions of times, Raza became known as the “Star Wars Kid,” and there were even other websites and blogs that re-posted the video, some with added music and other special effects. Though others found humor in Raza’s performance, he found only humiliation.
Bennett writes that stories such as Raza’s are becoming common, and they reveal what she refers to as “the dark side” of the Internet. There are many websites whose only reason for existence is to allow people to shame other people. One such site is DontHateHimGirl.com, where ex-boyfriends and ex-girlfriends can post unflattering comments about their past loves. Other websites allow people to shame bad drivers, poor tippers, and bad behavior in public. Bennett points to a book about these kinds of behaviors by law professor Daniel Solove called The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor, and Privacy on the Internet. Solove says, “Anyone can become a celebrity or a worldwide villain in an instant” (579). The problem is not everyone wants to be famous.
Bennett goes on to give further examples of such behavior including a young woman in South Korea who was shamed on the Internet after a video showing her refusing to clean up after her dog made a mess in a subway station. Someone else recorded the encounter and posted it online. The young woman became known as “Dog poop girl” and was so embarrassed by the resulting publicity that she dropped out of college. A more serious incident occurred in Portland, Oregon. A young woman at Lewis & Clark University there accused a male student of sexual assault on Facebook. Others picked up the accusation and even named the young man, calling him a rapist. The local alternative newspaper in Portland reported about the accusation on their front page including graphic details to which the young man was never asked to respond. He was never arrested or charged with a crime, but he became known on the Internet as a “rapist.”
Bennett tells us that public shaming has been around a long time, stretching all the way back to ancient Rome, where lawbreakers were branded on the forehead for all to see. In America before the American Revolution, violators of religious rules were locked in stocks in the public square where others humiliated them. Other forms of public shaming in colonial America included cutting off the hands or fingers of thieves and forcing adulterers to wear a large, scarlet “A” on their clothes. This type of shaming even has more recent examples.
There are few ways to control this behavior online, says Bennett, because “there are few checks and balances and no due process” (580). There are even websites that encourage people to post about others by guaranteeing anonymity. One such site is called “JuicyCampus,” which wants students to post rumors about their colleges and universities. But because of its guarantee that anything posted would remain anonymous, it “turned into a venue for bigoted rants and stories about drug use and sex that identify students by name” (580). There is very little control over these sites. The U.S. has a law that specifically protects website operators from any responsibility for what is posted on their sites as long as they do not edit the content.
In the end, Bennett says, it is almost impossible to remove information from the Internet.
The young man from Oregon who was accused of rape hired a lawyer, but a Google search for his name still turns up listings with the word “rapist.” Ghyslain Raza’s family sued the student who posted the “Star Wars Kid” video after the entire family went through therapy because of the incident. The family settled their lawsuit out of court. Bennett ends her essay with the warning, “If the ‘Star Wars Kid’ has anything to teach us, it’s that shame, like the force, will always be with you” (581).
This essay by Jessica Bennett details some very specific examples of people who have been shamed on the Internet and the problems they have endured because of it. There is very little recourse for the victims, Bennett says, because many sites encourage such behavior by guaranteeing anonymity. Living under the cloud of such humiliation is painful in many ways, and the postings themselves can go on forever. The lesson from this essay is to be careful what you post because you or someone else may regret it for a long
time.