Thursday, February 7, 2013

Dorner Supporters

"Ai yi yi," as my grandmother would say.  For those not following the news, Christopher Jordan Dorner is a former LA cop who is suspected in multiple murders.  He apparently has a support page called "I Support Christopher Jordan Dorner."  The members seem to be largely conspiracy theorists, rather than RIP troll types.


Thursday, January 31, 2013

Viral Child Shaming

This isn't the first child-shaming photo that's gone viral, and unfortunately, it probably won't be the last either.  Teresa Golden of Walker, LA decided that it would be a "creative, social, moral exercise" to force her 8-year-old son to stand near a roadway holding a sign saying "Shame on me for being a bully."  Not too surprisingly, someone driving by snapped a photo and uploaded it.

There are serious safety issues associated with allowing a child to become an online spectacle.  Once an image is out there, the parents have no control over it.  If it shows up in a context they don't like, they have little recourse.  It's also easy to alter photos.  A prankster could Photoshop something gross or inflammatory onto the sign, and then circulate that.  If that happened, there wouldn't be much the parents could do about it.