Occasionally on a Sunday morning, after the parties of Friday and Saturday, a revealing picture on the Internet lifts the alcohol memory fuzz. A single Facebook album can show the entire University that last night your pitcher was slacking and just about everyone made it to your first base. After all, the best Facebook albums are made from a mixture of alcohol, cameras and college students.
The first reaction most people have when they see a devastating picture on Facebook is anger at the person who uploaded the picture. The uploader must be an evil person trying to hurt the reputation of the people in the picture. He is trying to embarrass and humiliate the people who made the poor decisions. Because he must have a swastika on his soul, he has to take the photo down on that sheer principle!
I’m tired of this reaction. The stories of this sort keep passing my way, where some girl demands that her picture be taken down from whatever site. We shouldn’t be punishing the people who have taken the picture. Instead, we should let people be responsible for their own actions.
Call me what you will, but I think people are accountable for the long-term consequences of their actions. If a girl or guy decides they’re going to get drunk out of their mind, they should realize by now that people can and will record their escapades. Making out in public with a total stranger around your friends invites them to pull out a camera phone.
I’m not necessarily telling people to stop getting drunk and making out with strangers. Option B is to accept what you’ve done by being proud of the fact you did it. Shrugging off the picture as a victory and not dreading it as a humiliating affair is another way to accept the consequences of the previous night’s actions. When we laugh at ourselves, others laugh with us.
The uploaders of pictures are, in fact, owners of that digital media. If the picture is taken in a public setting, then I see no reason why the owner can’t distribute their media in the way they see fit. I make the concession that behind closed doors, the right to privacy trumps the right of property, but not in public places.
The clash comes squarely between the right of the uploader’s property and the subject’s privacy. Some would say the privacy should be protected because they are victims of the uploaders. On the contrary, the subject of the picture is in complete control of what kinds of pictures can be taken. They choose their actions and where they take place. Subjects who are against embarrassing pictures should find a private place devoid of cameras, change their actions or stop complaining to uploaders.
Facebook is just one of the sites where pictures can be uploaded. By now, we should all understand that if an uploader wants to distribute a picture, there are enough sites and means of uploading that expecting us to control embarrassing pictures through uploaders is unreasonable. We need to cut off the pictures at the source. People should just be responsible for their actions.
