The article “The Facebook Skeletons Come Out” in the New York Times by Jeremy Peters and Brian Stelter discusses the backlash on candidates who have pictures of themselves posted on Facebook. Three candidates during the current election had to justify or distance themselves from photos or video posted on Facebook from years past. This issue is relevant because social media sites such as Facebook are so widely used by the populace- people in my “generation” began using Facebook in college and have had pictures posted over the years. The issue is that in modern political campaigns, opponents relish embarrassing each other and using personal information to do so is a rather standard tactic. However, with so many people using Facebook, the presence of photos from years past may be a more universal for candidates of all political affiliations. The behavior of young people is not new, but having a technology make such behavior publicly available is. Candidates prior to social networking sites did not have to consider the ramifications for every event attended at any point in their youth the way that future candidates will have to. Krystal Ball, one of the candidates discussed in the article, had a comment that brought the issue home, “…I would have to have some young man or young woman think, ‘I can’t run for office because I did something stupid at a party however long ago’” (3). At the moment, there is not clear regulation or a defined position regarding use of photos on Facebook for political campaigns.
I feel that the use of social media sites using personal photos as ammunition in political campaigns could go in one of two ways. First, it could (and likely will in the short term) become the norm for the public to scrutinize candidates personal postings. It is a reality of life that individuals need to exercise caution when posting photos of themselves on Facebook and asking people to remove concerning photos. However, it could be that the wide use of Facebook and other sites are so common that candidates eventually shift their focus away from personal photographs to a more issue based discussion. I do understand that politics is a different animal from other human interactions, but it could be that in this case technology could shape behavior and could do its part to help in making political elections more professional. In the meantime, I would still recommend avoiding posting party photos on Facebook…
Tanya - I think of this often as it relates to Facebook and social networking. The risk of seemingly innocent fun - of years past - can come back to haunt a person. It's a real issue and one that likely has no good resolution, unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteI am not exactly sure what the ethical dilemma is in your case. There are a couple of places that you start to discuss a topic that could turn into a dilemma. For instance, should the internet be required to have a memory, should we have punishments for using behaviors of people under a certain age, what is the consequence on free speech and life in general when there is this permanent record of all behaviors, does it decrease or willingness to take chances and learn from mistakes....
ReplyDeleteBut you never really develop any topic. What you hint at in your second alternative is that the norms of society will probably change over time (as they always do) and there will be little to no outcry of a 45 year old senator candidate who was drunk in college 20 years prior.
An interesting parallel to your case would have been analyzing the videos of Christine O'Donnell that came out in the last political cycle.