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The live-tweeting thing was strange. It's funny that two fairly naive young people in a Burger King are deciding the fate of their marriage, in that it's so abs

by funkah 15y ago

The live-tweeting thing was strange. It's funny that two fairly naive young people in a Burger King are deciding the fate of their marriage, in that it's so absurd. I do think there is humor there. But something was off-putting about how faithfully the guy was trying to document this event. It seemed like he was really trying to put these two people's identity on blast, and foiled only by the circumstances (the quality of his phone's camera, the distance between himself and the couple) rather than, you know, any sense of propriety or mercy. I guess what I'm saying is, the element of identity changes the stakes. Like I said, the notion of two people ending their marriage in a Burger King is so ridiculous that it's funny. But when it becomes John Smith of 123 Main Street, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, having a fight with his wife Jane, it starts to feel weirdly mercenary. Like it's not being done for a laugh anymore, but expressly to humiliate two people. But, I agree that this is the way things are going whether we all like it or not. Whatever is in public is fair game for social media. But Mr. Boyle should consider exercising his powers of restraint a little better.

paganel 15y ago
There's nothing funny about deciding to end your marriage in a Burger King, in fact, I cannot think of any place where it would be "funny" to do that. This Tweeter-guy or whoever he is should have sticked to minding his own business, or maybe his life is so empty and lacking real-life relationships that he needs to live through other people's eyes and feelings. Now, that is funny.
- CWuestefeld 15y ago
  should have sticked to minding his own business My guess is that the tweeting guy, and the rest of the patrons, would have preferred if none of this had happened. They didn't choose to be witness to the conflict. It was the choice of that couple to thrust the situation on the rest of the diners. In that context, I can't see that the twitter guy is guilty of anything other than, maybe, poor taste.
  - vecter 15y ago
    If by poor taste you mean incredibly insensitive, mean, and asinine, then yeah.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
tripzilch 15y ago
> But, I agree that this is the way things are going whether we all like it or not. Whatever is in public is fair game for social media. But Mr. Boyle should consider exercising his powers of restraint a little better. Just because it's possible in a world with ubiquitous technology and social media doesn't make it right. Whether a new technology causes society to suddenly lose part of their moral compass really depends on how many people passively "agree that this is the way things are going whether we all like it or not" and how many of us can actually still muster the effort to take some control and responsibility to steer towards what we believe is right, because ultimately society and "the way things are going" is made out of people, like you and me. Also, I don't really believe this is a problem of new technology, it's just worsened by it. If this guy instead of tweeting, would have texted or called his friends to give a live report of some couple's marriage breakup, he'd be the same type of gossiping vulture. It's "just" that Twitter magnified the audience by some orders of magnitude, which makes him a really big and irresponsible gossiping vulture asshole.
- rdtsc 15y ago
  > Just because it's possible in a world with ubiquitous technology and social media doesn't make it right. Exactly. The logic here is pretty much exactly the logic applied by American law enforcement when using warrantless GPS tracking devices on people's cars. "Well you are in public anyway, we could just send a patrol car after you". Yes, taken to its logical conclusion it makes sense. However, I think most people would disagree. It doesn't feel right, and it is probably a matter of degree. > If this guy instead of tweeting, would have texted or called his friends to give a live report of some couple's marriage breakup, he'd be the same type of gossiping vulture What technology here has done is multiplied the power of a single individual. Some individuals, as we found out, are irresponsible and can be quite malicious. It so happens then that their malice is also multiplied.

by funkah 15y ago

paganel 15y ago

There's nothing funny about deciding to end your marriage in a Burger King, in fact, I cannot think of any place where it would be "funny" to do that. This Tweeter-guy or whoever he is should have sticked to minding his own business, or maybe his life is so empty and lacking real-life relationships that he needs to live through other people's eyes and feelings. Now, that is funny.

CWuestefeld 15y ago
should have sticked to minding his own business My guess is that the tweeting guy, and the rest of the patrons, would have preferred if none of this had happened. They didn't choose to be witness to the conflict. It was the choice of that couple to thrust the situation on the rest of the diners. In that context, I can't see that the twitter guy is guilty of anything other than, maybe, poor taste.
- vecter 15y ago
  If by poor taste you mean incredibly insensitive, mean, and asinine, then yeah.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]

tripzilch 15y ago

> But, I agree that this is the way things are going whether we all like it or not. Whatever is in public is fair game for social media. But Mr. Boyle should consider exercising his powers of restraint a little better. Just because it's possible in a world with ubiquitous technology and social media doesn't make it right. Whether a new technology causes society to suddenly lose part of their moral compass really depends on how many people passively "agree that this is the way things are going whether we all like it or not" and how many of us can actually still muster the effort to take some control and responsibility to steer towards what we believe is right, because ultimately society and "the way things are going" is made out of people, like you and me. Also, I don't really believe this is a problem of new technology, it's just worsened by it. If this guy instead of tweeting, would have texted or called his friends to give a live report of some couple's marriage breakup, he'd be the same type of gossiping vulture. It's "just" that Twitter magnified the audience by some orders of magnitude, which makes him a really big and irresponsible gossiping vulture asshole.

rdtsc 15y ago
> Just because it's possible in a world with ubiquitous technology and social media doesn't make it right. Exactly. The logic here is pretty much exactly the logic applied by American law enforcement when using warrantless GPS tracking devices on people's cars. "Well you are in public anyway, we could just send a patrol car after you". Yes, taken to its logical conclusion it makes sense. However, I think most people would disagree. It doesn't feel right, and it is probably a matter of degree. > If this guy instead of tweeting, would have texted or called his friends to give a live report of some couple's marriage breakup, he'd be the same type of gossiping vulture What technology here has done is multiplied the power of a single individual. Some individuals, as we found out, are irresponsible and can be quite malicious. It so happens then that their malice is also multiplied.