Have you ever said or done something that was not, how shall we put this, fully thought through, in a sober, responsible, and grown-up sort of way? Perhaps not in the best taste? I have. To put it bluntly, I have behaved like an absolute, fully certified and signed-up idiot. I’ve had ‘absolute prat’ moments. Let me give you an example (a carefully selected one, as I am holding back on the really, really bad ones). A couple of decades ago at a student party I met three young women from Bicester. I was well on the way to being drunk. They were polite, friendly, and did me no harm of any kind, real or imagined.
Yet for reasons I still can’t fathom, I decided it was hilariously funny to follow them round the party shouting ‘Bicester! Bicester! Y’all from Bicester!’. Years and years later, my toes curl with embarrassment when I remember it. I am partially saved because not many people know about it (but I’ve let that cat out of the bag now). For those three women, if they remember that night at all, I suppose I remain no more than some anonymous jerk. True, some of my friends were at that party: I’m mot sure, but I sincerely hope they’ve forgotten the whole thing. I want it wrapped in a blanket of anonymity. Perhaps everyone should be allowed a few ‘absolute prat’ moments that can be sensibly erased from public memory.
If I were a politician I would propose a carefully regulated ‘absolute prat’ amnesty. We could all submit, let’s say, a selected three or four ‘incidents’, which for whatever reason we think are best forgotten, to some kind of centrally managed ‘memory erasure’ facility. I think there would be a general increase in self confidence and self-worth as a result. I could go about my business without those horrible Bicester flashbacks. We wouldn’t be tormented any more by the mere thought of what we did and said, and how much we drank, or what happened, after the pubs closed, that night in January 1986… or whenever it was.
There are two problems with my proposal. Social media and Rihanna. And they are connected. The problem with social media - Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and all that stuff, is that as far as I can see, they often capture absolutely indestructible digital evidence of our prat moments. And I mean indestructible. Once it is ‘out there’ in the digi-sphere or whatever we want to call it, it is almost impossible reel it back in and somehow ‘unpublish’ it. Now I am not trying to suggest that Rihanna has had a prat moment, but it does seem to me that on her recent holiday in Thailand her use of social media may have had some unintended consequences.
5 Social Media Do’s and Don’ts
:http://www.cps.neu.edu/news/social-media-dos-donts.php
The evidence is as follows. First, she posted a photograph of herself with a cuddly animal called a slow loris, over the caption “look who was talking dirty to me!” The animal is actually a protected primate under Thai law. Shortly after the photo was posted two wildlife touts – a 20-year old and a 16-year old - were arrested by Thai police. One zoologist wrote to her noting that “photo prop animals are often physically abused, mutilated, and drugged to ensure that they are safe for tourists to handle”.
Next, Rihanna attended a sex show in the seaside resort of Phuket and tweeted a graphic description of what went on. Hot on the heels of that, the Thai police swooped again. “Authorities found out about this bar the morning after Rihanna tweeted about it, but we were not able to catch them violating the law until Saturday night” local district chief Weera Kerdsirimongkon was quoted as saying, adding “we had been waiting for them and finally caught them red-handed”. Sex shows are illegal in Thailand. The owner of the bar was arrested.
Read/view more: http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/oct/15/rihanna-sex-show-tweet-thai-phuket
Probably this is all good publicity for the Grammy-winning Barbadian star. But it is just possible that she might be embarrassed about one or two things she’s done or said at some point, or not have wanted people to get arrested as a result of her Thailand tweets. The point I’m trying to make is that when I’ve put my foot in it, I’ve offended maybe five to ten people. Rihanna has 32.3 million Twitter followers! So maybe my ‘prat amnesty’ and ‘bad memory erasure’ proposals just won’t work. It is all out there, and we are responsible for all our acts and omissions. It is a little scary.
Using Social Media Positively
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/patrick-mott/teens-social-media_b_3486924.html
Six hundred pounds buys the following amount of Thai Baht.
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