Have we all heard just about enough about the dangers, both physical and evolutionary, of texting? Do we need another article haranguing against smart-phones on dinner tables? Isn’t it crystal clear to us all that “living in the moment” is now only a behavior for which we pay thousands of dollars to experience in a spa? Technology has changed our orientation to the world around us. But I don’t particularly care about all that right now.
What I do care about is personal phone calls at work. (Quaint, isn’t it? That sentence conjures up visions of Judy Holliday at the switchboard.) For reasons which allude me, the technology of a “phone call” has obscured the intent of the call. The fact that people needn’t speak to communicate, or use a telephone belonging to an employer, seems to have blurred the lines for many. Show of hands, how many times has the clerk at your checkout register been tapping his/her acrylics onto a phone? Have you ever entered a boutique and not heard the shopkeeper on a personal call? The last time you frequented a restaurant with a host/hostess, were they looking down and squinting, behind their station in the dark? There are work situations in which personal communication is not only permissible, it is probably encouraged. I was recently on a film shoot at which the principals (waiting upwards to 15 minutes between takes) typed away, happily passing the time. But those particular employees were not actually working while making their personal calls. Their attention was not expected to be anywhere but on themselves.
Now here’s where the rant builds up steam. I have lost count of how many of New York’s finest I have seen texting or making personal phone calls while working. I suppose the traffic officer would argue; “Hey, I can give tickets and text at the same time.” Perhaps, but you’re in uniform and; a) it is unseemly to be engaged in personal activity, and b) you are an officer, and if you’re not seeing something and saying something, why should I? I have also seen “beat” officers, standing and texting on a corner, officers in squad cars (thankfully, the passengers not the drivers) texting as well. Now unless that is how the police department now communicates with its officers (and for all I know, it is) I find this truly distressing.
I am not suggesting that we all don’t have personal emergencies that need attention. But what I’ve witnessed is far more lackadaisical than an emergency would ever suggest. Somehow, because we have the technology, we’ve decided that rules of the workplace and common decorum need no longer apply. I’m no techie wonk, but I’m willing to posit, that we’re only going to get more little sexy toys with which to play. Perhaps we should engage, now, in the real face to face conversations about what is appropriate and what is not. Maybe I’m just an old fashioned gal, but I enjoy being looked in the eye, be it by a police officer or dinner companion (or one and the same, if it’s Tom Selleck in Blue Blood.)
Here She Is Boys 
The White Hood Of The Web
There have always been people crouching behind barriers and throwing stones. In an actual battle, this strategy is in fact prudent. But when the stones are being thrown at unwilling participants it is abusive, and when the abuser is shielding him/herself it is bullying. (Bullying is by definition an abuser preying on a weaker person. Hiding offers protection, exposure leaves one weaker.)
Since the dawn of time, or since there were enough people on the planet to adequately ostracize some of them; people have bullied other people. Often groups decide that someone, or groups of someones are a threat to the status quo. The group itself gives rise to an enthusiasm and sense of protection for the abusers. Persecution of women in Salem, backlashes to integration and voting rights, gay bashing; we have a rich national history of bullying, And it’s getting worse.
We are in a time of economic uncertainty, political polarization, political correctness pressure and the internet. People have not become more or less decent, they just may feel more threatened. Nothing gets the bully’s goat like threat. But what brings the simmering increase of abuse to the boiling point is the rise of technology. Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and countless website comment sections, have allowed for a new form of white hood. There is a vile cocktail of exhibitionism and hatred that litters the comment sections of legitimate news outlets. For some reason web editors and/or executives are allowing their brand to be a platform for hate groups. These posters use tragically uncreative screen names to hide behind, while rabidly posting. The unsuspecting reader is affronted with spewing from people calling themselves by war criminal’s names.
I am willing to concede, that just like wildly offensive television programming, the viewer can avoid the offensive material pretty easily. But I am concerned about the news outlets sense of responsibility and integrity. Offensive and abusive comments on Facebook and Twitter can easily be blocked and ignored as well. Even bloggers can block nasty commenters with ugly agendas. But where does this leave us?
The fact that we can protect ourselves from these high tech hooded thugs, doesn’t address the real issue. Why are we allowing people to hide in plain sight. Newspapers have long made it de rigueur to only publish letters from individuals with confirmed identities. Make no mistake, I am not advocating restraints on free speech. Far from it. But surely we have the technology to expose these people? The rest of us non-software engineers, should ignore the comments (versus engaging) and not patronize sites whose management allows for this behavior. People are entitled to be as dark and hateful as they desire, but civilized societies should not allow for them to do so in disguise.
Posted by Anonymous on November 16, 2011 in Cultural Critique, Media/Marketing
Tags: blogs, Brenda Tobias, bullying, commenters, cowards, Facebook, gay bashing, hate groups, integration, internet, Newspapers, Salem witch trials, Twitter, voting rights