Photo Credit: Lisa Johnson/YFrog
When the Vancouver Canucks hockey club lost in the seventh game of the Stanley Cup Championship Wednesday disappointed fans took to the streets to vent their frustrations. Such a reaction is a fairly common occurrence, but what changes the game is how social media appears to be fanning the flames of idiocy. On YouTube, Facebook, and most especially on Tweeter, authorities and onlookers a like pout, prod, and post to their hearts content. The police want evidence. The onlookers simply want the satisfaction of public attention.Why should feel compelled to submit their images and videos to the Vancouver Police Department when they are already available through social media.
RT @andreareimer: 100 arrests last night, more on the way. #VPD asking for anyone w photo/video/witness evidence to email [email protected]
Smacks of frontier justice.
If the police can easily obtain the images on soical media sites, why would they ask people to submit them separately?
We are increasingly approaching a time when a "Turn-in Your Neighbor" policy may become the norm. If you don't like the neighbor's laundry hanging in the sun, just tweet about it. If you don't like the way someone looked about you in the grocery story, toss the insult up on Facebook for the world to see. Today, people racing around with camera phones to record a riot or a car crash has positive and negative consequences. It would be best to weigh both pros and cons before rushing to the police.