Missing The Point

Today as I was driving to the church, I was listening to my preferred extreme, right wing, talk radio station, and I heard a Public Service Announcement (PSA) that went something like this:

Janie is looking at all of the disgusting comments that have been posted about her.

Janie heard that a bunch of people from school have sent her pictures around the internet, and now everybody at school has seen them.

Janie is terrified, because her dad got the email, and has seen the topless photos of her.

Remember, when you post something on the internet, it's there forever.

And there's no way for you to control who sees what you post.

That's not the exact wording, but you get the idea. Here's a video PSA that I found that has basically the same message:



Allow me to explain to you (if you haven’t already realized this for yourself) that these PSA’s are completely missing the point. What is the message they are delivering? Don’t post your naked pictures on the internet (or compromising pictures – I suppose they don’t have to be naked pictures, but that’s the implication – also, there’s been a bit of a recent rash of kids taking naked pictures of themselves, and then sending them to their boyfriend or girlfriend, and then, of course, they get out to everyone else as well, and then the kid is devastated).

You’d think it would be pretty obvious: if you put pictures of ANYTHING on the internet, they are viewable by everyone, and they can never be deleted. Thus the warning: “think before you post.”

But, like I said earlier, this warning is completely missing the point. It seems to me that if you want to make sure that your naked pictures of yourself aren’t posted on the internet, the surest way to make sure that doesn’t happen is that YOU DON’T TAKE NAKED PICTURES OF YOURSELF. Wake up, you idiots. Sorry, I know that’s not very nice or PC, but come on – if you are stupid enough to take naked pictures of yourself and bring them within 100 miles of a computer with internet access, you are a complete fool, and you should not be surprised when you get weird looks from perverts at school and the movie theatre. Wise up and don’t be an idiot.

The same reasoning applies to the debate about sex ed. and safe sex practices. If you don’t want to get pregnant, if you don’t want an std, if you don’t want a broken heart and a broken commitment, DON’T FORNICATE. Yes, you could “protect” yourself, but the risk of “having your naked pictures get out to everyone” is still there. That is to say that there’s still a risk of all of these things happening when you engage in fornication – protected or otherwise. The safest – wisest – choice is to abstain completely. Then, in the realm of taking naked pictures of yourself, it stands to reason that the safest – wisest – choice is to not take naked pictures of yourself.

But I’ve got even more problems with these PSA’s (I know, you can’t wait to here what they are). One of them is this: The Ad Council and the other organizations would rather take care of a consequence of behavior (posting naked pictures of yourself), rather than addressing the root of the problem (the idea that taking naked pictures of yourself is a good idea). It’s the same reasoning as when schools pass out condoms to kids and tell them to be careful, rather than to not be an idiot and fornicate. The world is completely backwards.

The second this is this: apparently people like the Ad Council believe (rightly so) that everyone is a pervert and will be scouring the internet for naked pictures of high school girls. While they are correct (they probably don’t even realize they are – people are depraved), they seem to excuse the behavior of those who view the pictures. That is to say that it’s normal for everyone (including the football coach!) to be scouring MySpace for teenage porn. Come on! Apparently it’s OK to look at teenage porn, and it’s ok to post it, but you need to realize that everyone can look at it. Is that the truth? Is that the message?

This world is totally upside down. Instead of telling kids not to do immoral things, we tell them to go ahead and do immoral things – but do them in private. Because, after all, we don’t want them to get hurt (!). That brings up another point. I have to believe that anyone stupid enough to post naked pictures of themselves and post them on the internet, in some way, WANTS people to look at them. Why else would they post them? I feel somewhat the same with sexual harassment suits where women claim that they’re being ogled in public. Have you looked at the way you dress? Doesn’t provocative clothing scream to all who can see it “LOOK AT ME!”? Doesn’t the very act of wearing skimpy clothing demonstrate a desire to be lusted after and desired by others? And then in the same way, doesn’t taking naked pictures of yourself and posting them on the internet in some way, shape, or form, demonstrate a desire to be seen? Oh no. Absolutely not. I know! We need another PSA to not address the problem, and instead address the obvious consequences of behavior.

Ridiculous.