I’ve written this entry in my head over the last couple days in the car. This is how I blog. But then this morning I heard something on the news, and while the song remains the same, I’m taking a different spin on it.
Def Leppard – Hysteria. The first CD I ever bought!!! I remember trucking off to university with my new CD player (how advanced!!) and a couple of new discs. Hysteria, Apetite for Destruction and Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits. Those were them but Hysteria was number one!
My roommate Cath and I became the unofficial party headquarters in our residence for frosh week. I’d love to say that it’s because we were cool…really it was because we were the only ones old enough to buy booze. But we’d often lead the group through a rousing version of Pour Some Sugar On Me…complete with our own actions (…’knocking on my door’ – you can figure it out)…
My university days…at Acadia, in Wolfville, Nova Scotia (woohoo go Axemen!) … were just as university should be. I went to class and to parties. I slept late and with some bad guys. I ate like shit and gained the freshmen 15. But all told, despite my low self esteem and lower grades…I made it through and only look back on it fondly.
This week, the media has been overtaken with stories about Tyler Clementi, the Rutgers student who threw himself off a bridge after a video of him having sex with another guy was broadcast on the internet. WHAT THE HELL!! This makes me sad and mad on so many, many levels.
This morning, I woke up to hear about a chick at Duke University who took it upon herself to sleep with a bunch of athletes and then release a powerpoint presentation ranking their performance.
Honey – the only ‘performance’ that should be ranked here is yours…and you get a ZERO for being a complete fool.
I feel sorry for the (gulp – warning – I’m about to sound like my parents here) younger generation, who has to grow up in times like this where ANYTHING that you do could end up on the internet. And as we know, when it ends up there…you can never EVER remove it.
Didn’t Tyler and don’t all the othe LGB youths have enough to deal with without worrying about unfeeling people ‘outing’ them on the internet. And frankly, lots of people (I’ll include myself here) get around at university…but we can grow into pretty well adjusted adults. These guys are going to be looking for jobs one day, and their employers are going to google them and see whether they went down properly on some chick they picked up at a bar. And oh yeah honey, when your kids eventually google you, they can read all about your conquests at Duke.
So Def Leppard, dudes with the magically huge hair and awesome power ballads, thank for being the soundtrack to my freshmen year….and thank you non-existing internet…for allowing me to keep my shenanigans to myself and to come up with the G-rated version to share with my kid. On my terms.
I did drink (a lot) and do some questionable things in high school and college…to think that if my kids did it now in this age of technology and everything being documented on cell phones and put out on the world wide web is disturbing to me.
I fear for them for the very reasons Jen mentioned – the inability to make a mistake without the risk of humiliation – it terrifies me.
I learned SO much through bad judgement calls and mistakes made.
The song. It reminds me of the BramaRamaChingWingDing. Our local fall fair. The matterhorn ride where they played rock music and yelled in the mic “Do ya wanna go faaaaaster??!?!?!” and then a siren blew… I think I was in grade 8 or 9 when that song was out.
I really considered myself to be a good kid. I didn’t drink or get into any trouble. That said I did do things that I wouldn’t want broadcast around the world. It’s scary to think that even small lapses in judgment can create long lasting devastating results.
I’m doing a Public Safety Communications program in University (to work answering/dispatching emergency calls) and we talk A LOT about the “dangers” of the internet and social networking sites and how we live in such an instant world now.
A really horrifying and downright disgusting example would be the rape that happened at a rave in Pitt Meadows, BC last month. A group of people (youth and adults) stood around and watched as multiple males raped a 16 year old girl (who was allegedly slipped a date-rape drug) and at least one of them took pictures with a mobile device and sent them to friends and Facebook! As the girl was under 18 this is a criminal offence (child pornography) and ANYONE who has viewed, shared, downloaded, or otherwise worked with the images could potentially face criminal charges if they are caught. I could go on to quote the Criminal Code (part of my program includes a Law class) but needless to say it is NOT a good situation and is an on-going investigation. The images went completely viral and the police couldn’t keep up with having them removed from the internet.
Here’s a link to one of the many articles in case you haven’t heard about it:
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20100916/rave-charges-100916/
As I will be working with police/fire/ambulance I need to be very aware of what types of personal info. go online. My Facebook is in complete “lockdown” for anyone except “friends” and I’ve actually culled my “friends” list to people I actually know and trust. Try googling yourself (pictures too)…you might be surprised on the amount of info you come back with.
Totally agree. It is disgusting that our kids can’t make mistakes or have bad judgment without the risk of public humiliation. So very, very sad. Please tell me the people who outed that boy were charged with something.
I guess the thing that shocks me the most is just how mean people can be. What would possess someone to be so terrible to another person.
So true Christine! And the scary thing is we can teach them all we want…but it’s out of our control what other kids do!
I agree, I think it’s sad and ridiculous what’s going on. It’s taken the walk of shame to a whole different level. I’m scared for my kids and completely unprepared for what is ahead.