Did you see the pictures of the guys who thought it’d be a good idea to “black-up” for an African themed birthday party?
No?
Well, you might have missed it if it hadn’t been for Buzzfeed doing their bit for community race relations by publishing pictures from the party and naming and shaming the half-wits who thought it would be a good idea to do so.
Of course, they happened to be Australian. For some reason many of us here seem to have no problems with “blacking-up”. It happens time and time again, reasserting the perception to those overseas that we’re all a bit racist. We aren’t though, right?
It’s not just Aussies who have been picked up by Buzzfeed. There was the guy who dressed up as Trayvon Martin, the American teenager shot dead by a neighbourhood watch volunteer. There was the guy who dressed as a victim of the Boston bombings. There was the actor who blacked-up to look like a character from a TV show.
There can be no doubt that these were all tasteless costumes, but did their dubious choice in outfit need to be highlighted and disseminated by one of the world’s most popular websites?
Buzzfeed is not one to ponder the ethical ramifications of it naming and shaming people on a global scale. You just need to look at Buzzfeed itself, which categorises its content as “LOL; Win; OMG; cute; trashy; fail; WTF” to know that this is no bastion of hard-hitting journalism. This is a place for young people to go and waste a bit of time.
Buzzfeed also curates good lists – 20 things you might not know about Lego, 22 Goats smiling at you - that kind of thing. Their popularity relies heavily on concocting material geared to “go viral”, where you can't help but find yourself compelled to share an article on Facebook or Twitter.
What this means, as far as Buzzfeed is concerned, is any content that is shared and publically accessible on social media is fair game. So if you’re posting a tasteless photo of yourself doing something that you find amusing but many others may not - and your privacy settings are set to “public” - then a Buzzfeed editor might well be around the corner to pounce on your error of judgement. Is this necessarily a bad thing?
Some argue it’s good that racists are being outed. Perhaps the large amount of harassment they will receive will make them realise the error of their ways. Besides, it’s not as if the naming and shaming of people by the is a new thing: the broadcasting of images and names of “dole-bludgers” and “dodgy dealers” has been commercial current affairs stock-in-trade for decades. But does one error in judgement have to taint you for the rest of your life?
At least with traditional media, those who had been publically humiliated could perhaps slip back into obscurity, mend their ways and get on with their lives. Now, thanks to search engines, that stupid thing you did in your teens can linger on the Web forever. That stupid something you did in your teens could come back to haunt you when you go for that important job interview as an adult.
Or is that too fatalistic? Perhaps those who have been caught out by Buzzfeed could take heart in the fact that while Google has a long memory, its users do not. These days our outrage is instant, extreme - but transitory. It comes and goes just like a downpour of torrential rain in the tropics. Everyone moves on to the next big outrage and no one really cares any more. So maybe that dumb thing you did gets you some hate mail for a while - but then, just like that, the emails and tweets stop and you can resume your life.
Or perhaps the publicity you received from your error in judgement becomes kind of like a badge of honour. Remember that guy who put his party invite on Facebook and like hundreds of people turned up and trashed his place?
No?
Well he ended up appearing on Big Brother and still lives off his “party boy” image - mostly because he garnered a fan base of young people who were so impressed by his antics.
As far as Buzzfeed is concerned, it doesn’t really matter whether you win or lose from their outing of your stupid antics. As long as it get its hits and makes advertising revenue it will be business as usual. But if you don’t want to get caught out, it may be worth thinking twice before you post that incriminating photo, or perhaps consider revisiting your social media privacy settings – just in case.
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