I am
responsible about what I post online.
Excluding the
usual emo posts that every thirteen year old did when they first discovered the
internet (thanks Gaiaonline) I’ve always tried very hard to be responsible
about what I post on the internet, especially on Facebook. Weirdly, sometimes I
see the crap other people post and I feel a twinge of pride knowing that I wouldn’t post that kind of crap.
This is kind
of a sore spot for me lately because I work in the very public theater that is
education. Yesterday I opened Aol News like I do every morning only to find
that a high school I used to work at was in the news again. This time because a
twenty three year old math teacher was getting reprimanded because she was
posting stuff about her being high and drunk and other mildly inappropriate
things. While she posted this stuff outside of school hours, the school still
deemed it necessary for her to receive disciplinary action that might result in
her firing.
This particular case is close to my heart
because I have worked in this school and I know the kids that go there and I
know the kind of crap that this school has been through in the past three
years. This place has had scandals with the principle, the newspaper, gun
violence, drug issues and poor testing problems. It’s time that someone gave
this place a break so the kids can focus on their education, not on which one
of their teachers is most likely to get fired next.
I know a lot
of people are screaming that the woman did nothing wrong, and I agree that in a
legal sense she was well within her rights to post whatever she felt like. However,
outside the law is this little thing called common sense. If you are posting
stuff about behaving inappropriately where young people can see you doing it,
you have already dug your own grave. You
shouldn’t have done that; you just shouldn’t have been so careless.
Everybody is guilty of posting stupid
things. Like that kid who got caught by the cops because he posted to
Facebook that he was driving drunk while he was doing it. I’m all for freedom
of speech and that crap, but honestly, don’t post stuff that is going to get
you in trouble and then act all surprised when exactly that happens. Don’t post
about your gun collection in a society on high alert for gun violence. Don’t
post about your drug/alcohol/sexual exploits where your family can see it. Don’t
post inciting political and religious remarks with the sole intent of pissing
people off and then act offended when people call you out.
The internet is no longer a sounding board
for real life. It is a part of our daily life and if you do something stupid
on it, I can promise you that everyone will know by morning. Also, if you post
a majority of vague and depressing statuses, get ready to be unfriended (now a
word in Websters) because, like I said at the beginning of this blog, I’m
cutting the poison.
Challenge to
my Readers:
Before you
post anything ever again, stop, pause and think it over. Will your four year
old appreciate your explicative riddled movie review of Latest Bad Movie? Will
your parents love the fact that instead of studying this weekend you “were
holed up at that A$$hole’s place, playing Mass Effect and eating Doritos?” Do
you think I’m going to respond well when you insult my religion, my diet, my
life style or my friends?
For our sake
and for the sake of all that is humanity, don’t leave a trail of stupidity for
our posterity to see.
No comments:
Post a Comment