Summary: The Flip Side Of Internet Fame

The Flip Side of Internet Fame In this article The Flip Side of Internet Fame by Jessica Bennett, there are many issues discussed in regards to the internet and how it can create instant fame and shame. This article talks about the many pros and cons with the Internet today and the effects it can cause. Although social sigma can be a useful deterrent, “the Internet is loose cannon,” says ethicist Jim Cohen of Fordham University School of Law in New York (Fawcett 579). Internet fame is causing more and more people to become isolated because of shame, rage, and death. The internet used to be a source for researching information, but today it is used as a battle field of hate and shame. Many people are using social media as a way of being spiteful and mean to others. People are sometimes being recorded against their will and placed on internet sites for other people to view. Some may see it as a funny joke, but the person who it is actually happening to sees it as humiliating and violating. The first example that Bennett used was about the Star Wars kid and how he not knowingly got filmed reenacting scenes from the Star Wars film. The kid was just having fun and in an instant is out there for everyone to get a laugh at. This video became a source of public humiliation, precisely what every kids fears the most.

Thousands of people from all over the world become Internet sensations within a matter of days, but did they ask to become so? One minute of fame can lead to more and more problems. “It is appalling that people do not think before they post—or even worse—that they do not care enough to think first. Their behavior is mean, cruel, and should have no place in society.” Unwanted Internet fame is, in my opinion a personal tragedy for all parties involved