A few weeks ago we got a strange call from a friend of ours telling us that our Sic Willie’s public Facebook page (which is also his private Facebook page) was being stalked – and not by fawning legions of female admirers like it usually is.
“They’re going through his friends, trying to figure out who his sources are,” we were told. “And they print every update on his page.”
Hmmmm … “They?”
Anyway, the great thing about Facebook is that it truly does capture millions of embarrassing moments on a daily basis.
Like that time Polly fell down.
Did we push her? No. Where we even there? No. Did we even know Polly back then? No.
But it was on Facebook. So we might as well have been there (hey Polls!).
The funny thing is that a lot of people (obviously not Polly) have become Facebook-phobic, scared that anything they post might come back to haunt them.
From FOX:
Say you had a lapse of good judgment in your youth, hung out with some Communist Party members and shared some photos of you and your new pals with your Facebook friends.
Now say you’re older, and you choose to run for office, and you want to get rid of any incriminating photos or information out there about you — like maybe that online petition you signed advocating the legalization of marijuana. You delete everything from your Facebook page, and you should be good, right?
Slight problem. That picture of you and the guys with the hammers and the sickles is probably still out there, somewhere. And it won’t go away.
Share it once, share it for life. That’s the conundrum when it comes to people expecting privacy after they share photos or other information with hundreds of friends on Facebook — or any other social networking site, for that matter.
We guess it’s a sign of the times.
People are obviously starting to use Facebook to collect dirt on each other, meaning everything anybody posts should be automatically assumed to be “out there” for the duration of your natural existence.
That’s certainly not the way we approach the people we befriend on the site, but it’s how some folks roll.
Oh well, thank god we didn’t do that 25 things thing … who knows what “they” would have uncovered.
By Nyet February 20, 2009 at 8:59 am
What a gal, that Polls!
What about some of Mands’ “precious moments” … or is she squeaky clean?
Hmmm.
By Mande Wilkes February 20, 2009 at 11:02 am
Nyet-
Never can tell.
- Mande
By Pete February 20, 2009 at 12:51 pm
I know who “they” is but I’m not telling. I have children who need a father and a wife who needs a husband. Willie, some of these folks out there are mean and they don’t like you. Buckle up.
By fitsnews February 20, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Pete,
We hear you. And the threats against Sic Willie have definitely intensified the larger his audience has become.
It is what it is. We have taken precautions.
-FITS
Mande … “Rrrrawwwwr!”
By Repete February 20, 2009 at 2:59 pm
You can never be too careful once you start growing, FITS.
Vetting everybody, even retro-vetting, wouldn’t be a bad idea.
[Hyper-vet anyone that went to law school.]
By End the Prohibition February 20, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Why would signing an online petition advocating legalization of marijuana be considered incriminating? It’s lawful to discuss changing our laws, our legislators do it all day long.
Advocating for law change is NOT a suspicion of breaking the law.
If it were, every legislator who stood up in Congress proposing a change to any of our laws would immediately be arrested on suspicion of violating the law. And that would be absurd.
Today’s advocates of marijuana law reform are no different from those who advocated for alcohol law reform during the alcohol prohibition. Those people are viewed as heroes today, just as today’s marijuana law reform advocates will be viewed as heroes by the generations that follow us.
The marijuana prohibition is an expensive, ineffective, and harmful waste of taxpayer’s money. Its effect on society is on par with prohibiting tobacco – it *doesn’t* stop people from using the stuff, it encourages dealers to operate out of our schools, it makes it dead easy for kids to buy, and it funnels **billions** of dollars every year to the Mexican drug cartels who use this money to corrupt their police and government officials and to brutally murder thousands of people.
Advocating against this policy is a moral and conscientious thing to do.
By Dave-o February 20, 2009 at 4:07 pm
Maybe somebody should start collecting, identifying and carefully storing heirloom seeds.
Just in case.