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The Flip Side Of Internet Fame By Jessica Bennet Analysis

Decent Essays

Viral Victims Viral videos have become wildly popular within the last decade. For some, internet fame has become a blessing. On the other hand, others have been shamed due to their viral videos. In “The Flip Side of Internet Fame” by Jessica Bennet, she makes her case on the undesirable effects of social media. Bennet uses a few of the many viral victims as examples to demonstrate what social media can do. Social media humiliates, violates privacy, and has long-term effects on the lives of the viral victims. When videos are posted on social media, they have a good chance of going “viral” if the content is right. Bennet writes about a boy, Raza, that creates a video and the video was posted by someone else onto a social networking website. Raza, also named “Star Wars kid”, “…became a source of public humiliation” (579). Another viral victim known as “Dog poop girl”, in Seoul “…refused to clean up after her dog in the subway…” (579). She was eventually humiliated enough that she had to drop out of college. Being publicly shamed and humiliated is a price paid when it comes to viral videos and social media. Bennet does a great job demonstrating how social media and viral videos can humiliate an individual. Humiliating a person can …show more content…

“Star Wars kid”, Raza, had his privacy violated because his video was shared without his permission. Bennet also listed websites that are dedicated to shaming others. There are a variety of different websites that are meant to let others be aware of certain individuals. “There are websites for posting hateful rants about ex-lovers…and bad tippers…and for posting cell-phone images of public bad behavior…” (579). The websites used to shame others violate the privacy of the victims. Everyone should be entitled to their privacy unless they state otherwise. With today’s social media, privacy for individuals has become almost

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