This article provided great insight into both points of view of what is okay to post online and what is not. More importantly, it discusses how people’s lives may be impacted by what is posted about them online. This article uses the “dog poop girl” as a specific example. The dog poop girl became famous on the internet after telling others to “mind their own business” on a subway after telling her to pick up her dog’s poop. These people on the subway snapped pictures of her and posted them to social media and explained what had happened on the subway. Many were offended by the dog poop girl’s rude actions, and continued to share the posts to further humiliate the dog poop girl. In the days before the internet, the dog poop girl’s rude actions would have soon been forgotten about. However, the internet ensures that her rude actions will forever be remembered. Some may argue that her rude actions should be preserved and remembered through social media, but I believe that she deserves some privacy. In fact, I remember in high school one of the rules in my choir class was that you were not allowed to take pictures of other students without their permission, for obvious reasons.
Although refusing to clean up your dog’s mess is very rude, it is impossible for us as strangers to this lady to understand where she is coming from. Also, everybody has done something rude at some point in their lives weather they know it or not. I think we can all agree that nobody should be defined by one negative thing they have done. Maybe the dog poop girl could have done something remarkable with her life, but we will never know because the sharing on the internet has limited her to just that small act of rudeness.
However, there is also the argument that when you are out in public nothing you do is secret and whatever you do in public is subject to viewing by anybody who is there, and also their friends and followers on social media. I find this argument to be extremely tasteless. As people who inhabit the same earth, breathe the same air and walk the same grounds, we should all understand that we should treat people the way we want to be treated. This includes respecting others privacy. Just because somebody was out in public or on their way to class, work, etc. does not give anybody else the right to dehumanize them in any way. We are all people with the same basic needs and wants, and occasionally we make mistakes. While I do think the dog poop girl should have received some consequence for her actions, those consequences should not have been life-altering or shared to the whole world.
The other passengers on that subway have made it impossible for the dog poop girl to grow as a person because she is now chained to that one mistake for the rest of her life. New people that she comes into contact with will have a biased opinion of her from the moment they meet her and will not give her a chance to explain herself or improve herself as a person. We should not know that much information about somebody before we meet them for that reason. We should be able to know them as a person before we judge their mistakes.
Some may argue that the freedom of speech should allow people to say whatever they want about whoever they want. While I do agree with free speech, I think people need to understand the price that may come with it. Even if you’re not the one paying the price, you still need to consider if what you are going to say is actually worth it. You also need to consider if this is really a pressing issue that needs to be addressed. Personally, I don’t think it’s worth it to ruin somebody’s life just because it will make you happier in the second it takes you to post or share it.
This case serves as a great example of the ethical dilemmas that are rising due to new communication technologies. While there may be no correct black and white answer, it is important for us to ponder each case carefully and arrive at certain conclusions on a case-by-case basis. I think the most important thing to remember is to treat people the way you want to be treated, and nobody is perfect.