• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

The culture of recording strangers in bad moments and posting them on social media is gross

DragoonKain

Neighbours from Hell
After the past couple weeks it really has hit me how vile it truly is. Every fucking day I see some viral video of some person being recorded saying something of doing something people would consider “mean” and now the entire internet can laugh and mock this person and try to ruin their lives.

It’s really fucking gross. People aren’t allowed to have bad days and moments now apparently. And why the fuck do people even have their phones on the ready to record these “incidents” in the first place? It’s almost like they’re hunting for people to catch in the act of doing something because they know it will get likes, so they just go around recording everyone until they find someone who does or says something out of turn.

It’s a slippery slope and I’m not sure where this culture ends up if it continues down this path. Imagine having a shitty day, being at the grocery store, and you see some weirdo recording you for no reason and you go hey buddy, fuck off, get that camera out of my fucking face. And the next day you find out it has 2 million views and your boss is calling you to tell you you’ve been fired because the internet thinks you’re an asshole.

I absolutely loathe it.
 

12Goblins

Lil’ Gobbie
I agree with your sentiment but the lady in Central Park whom self-admittedly leveraged her privilege against that black dude, threatening him what she knows to be a disproportional response from the NYPD on innocent black men is fucked up on a whole new level -- It's Emmit till all over again. This is important
 
Last edited:
I agree with your sentiment but the lady in Central Park whom self-admittedly leveraged her privilege against that black dude, threatening him what she knows to be a disproportional response from the NYPD on innocent black men is fucked up on a whole new level -- It's Emmit till all over again. This is important

I assumed this is what the thread was about before I clicked, just saw the video a few minute ago.

I dunno the whole story, trying not to rush to judgment. She definitely seemed to overreact in the clip I saw, for whatever that's worth
 

Fbh

Member
Seems less of a "culture" and more like a side effect of everyone walking around with an HD camera in their pocket which they can have up and recording in what? 3-4 seconds?

I agree that sometimes it can have a negative effect, specially when things are taken out of context. And people definitely love to jump to conclusions without having all the facts.
But to be honest the vast majority of the ones I've seen seem like they could have easily been avoided by not being an asshole.
 

TaySan

Banned
If you're talking about the lady in central park that was on her for being a racist asshole. Using the police as a weapon threatening to call the police after he politely asked her to leash her poor dog.
 
Last edited:

12Goblins

Lil’ Gobbie
I assumed this is what the thread was about before I clicked, just saw the video a few minute ago.

I dunno the whole story, trying not to rush to judgment. She definitely seemed to overreact in the clip I saw, for whatever that's worth

Usually I reserve judgment because most always it takes 2 fucking idiots to escalate to the point of what we end up seeing in these viral meltdowns videos,

but in this case. Give me a break.

This guy a fucking nerd. Lady is a straight up psycho.

I think everyone carrying a phone camera does bring some good to society, like gun ownership and keeping everyone in check so to speak, but I don't know how healthy it is
 
Last edited:

DragoonKain

Neighbours from Hell
I agree with your sentiment but the lady in Central Park whom self-admittedly leveraged her privilege against that black dude, threatening him what she knows to be a disproportional response from the NYPD on innocent black men is fucked up on a whole new level -- It's Emmit till all over again. This is important
No, this thread isn't about that video in particular. It was actually more about some middle aged woman in some store freaking out about something I saw last week and everyone was laughing and mocking the woman. I don't even remember what the woman was freaking out about.

Regardless, I think it's extremely dangerous culture territory we are stepping into with everyone being "exposed" in their worst moments. There may be situations where it works for good, but overall I find it a major net negative. Not to mention a lot of these videos can be(and have been) recorded or edited out of context. For example, a verbal spat between two people and the person recording cuts out the things they say and only include the stuff the other person says. Then post it online, say something like "this person verbally attacked me for no reason" and boom their life is ruined.
 
Last edited:
Someone should make a reality show of unmasking the most virtue signalling white knight message board types and then revealing their screwups to the nation to see what getting doxxed feels like. I guarantee not a single one of them have a clean record. Its all about feeling superior and thinking you have the right to judge others even though you have no moral high ground.
 

DragoonKain

Neighbours from Hell
Maybe don't be an asshole in the first place?

Seems fairly simple to me.
I really don't think this is a sound argument. That's like word coming out that states will now be invoking the death penalty on petty theft crimes and responding "maybe don't steal a pack of gum, then?"

The punishment does not fit the crime. Losing your temper like a human being in public should not subjugate one to death threats, endless ridicule, harassment, and loss of employment.

We are trying to set unrealistic standards. In fact, I think this kinda stuff propagates it. People are all tense now and under way more stress than they can't leave the house without being monitored by someone.
 
Last edited:

DragoonKain

Neighbours from Hell
I'm a giant asshole. Yet, I know how to keep my emotions intact. If you freak out in public, you are making a public display of yourself, and are opening yourself up to ridicule.
So you think if you lose your temper on someone in public because you're having a bad day like a human being does now and again, it's worthy of global ridicule? Possible death threats, harassment, and losing your job? I find that beyond ridiculous. Held to an unrealistic standard.
 
So you think if you lose your temper on someone in public because you're having a bad day like a human being does now and again, it's worthy of global ridicule? Possible death threats, harassment, and losing your job? I find that beyond ridiculous. Held to an unrealistic standard.

I think if you lose your temper on someone you are a pathetic human being. Unless there is an actual threat, you should always keep your fucking cool.
 

NOLA_Gaffer

Banned
I really don't think this is a sound argument. That's like word coming out that states will now be invoking the death penalty on petty theft crimes and responding "maybe don't steal a pack of gum, then?"

The punishment does not fit the crime. Losing your temper like a human being in public should not subjugate one to death threats, endless ridicule, harassment, and loss of employment.

We are trying to set unrealistic standards. In fact, I think this kinda stuff propagates it. People are all tense now and under way more stress than they can't leave the house without being monitored by someone.

Nah man, you gotta learn to disengage, desculate, and move on with your life. Getting upset over stupid shit doesn't solve anything. Lose your temper within your home, not in public.
 

lock2k

Banned
It's completely wrong to expose people.

People act like they're fucking police because they own a phone with a camera. It's despicable.

Sometimes it helps to uncover crimes, but most of the time the person filming can help to stop a crime yet they do nothing because they prefer to have a hit in social media. Fuck those people, they are the worst.
 

DragoonKain

Neighbours from Hell
I think if you lose your temper on someone you are a pathetic human being. Unless there is an actual threat, you should always keep your fucking cool.
Oh FFS that's so absurd. As long as you don't physically attack someone which is never ok, everyone loses their cool from time to time. Everyone here has done it and snapped at someone in public at some point in their lives. Not necessarily some 10 minute tirade, but snapping at someone for a few seconds. That does not make them "pathetic" it makes them human.
 

DragoonKain

Neighbours from Hell
Nah man, you gotta learn to disengage, desculate, and move on with your life. Getting upset over stupid shit doesn't solve anything. Lose your temper within your home, not in public.
That's just not how the world works though and it's completely unrealistic to expect someone to never have a bad moment in public ever.
A pathetic human. Sure.
lol, definite trolling now, I'll give it to you, you had me there for a minute. :messenger_tears_of_joy:
 

DragoonKain

Neighbours from Hell
I remember one time I was in a Best Buy, I was a few days removed from surgery and I was in a lot of pain and I was waiting in line at the pickup section, and the person at the counter called for next in line. I waited.... waited... no one stepped to the line so I assumed the people nearby were just mingling or waiting for someone so I stepped in line. Then some woman shouts at me HEY I WAS HERE BEFORE YOU, asshole.” And I said lady I waited like 30 seconds, no one stepped up, so I did. And she’s like yeah, you know exactly what you were doing. And I said lady fuck off, I’m not in the mood for this shit today.

And according to some people I should face global vitriol for that one 2 second moment of my life. 😑
 
Last edited:

Punished Miku

Gold Member
That recording in Central Park potentially saved his life. Literally could have died, or been arrested and sentenced.

She called the police and lied, and tried to get him arrested, while stating that she was in danger when they showed up. What she did is just as bad or even worse than violently assaulting someone, and the only thing that even protected him was his foresight to start defensively recording in advance because he saw how unstable she is.

And then, zero charges filed for her attempt to ruin his life. So in that case, what do you do? Fine, post it on social media.

This is one of the few cases where I fully support it. Until false accusations receive HEAVY punishments on par with what they're false accusing the person of, then I support this. The justice system is not caught up yet, and it's a dangerous crime that needs to be deterred.
 

DragoonKain

Neighbours from Hell
That recording in Central Park potentially saved his life. Literally could have died, or been arrested and sentenced.

She called the police and lied, and tried to get him arrested, while stating that she was in danger when they showed up. What she did is just as bad or even worse than violently assaulting someone, and the only thing that even protected him was his foresight to start defensively recording in advance because he saw how unstable she is.

And then, zero charges filed for her attempt to ruin his life. So in that case, what do you do? Fine, post it on social media.

This is one of the few cases where I fully support it. Until false accusations receive HEAVY punishments on par with what they're false accusing the person of, then I support this. The justice system is not caught up yet, and it's a dangerous crime that needs to be deterred.
I still haven’t seen the video for that, just heard people talking about it, I will watch it later. I was not speaking about that or any video in particular, though the one that kinda pushed me over the tipping point was the woman at a supermarket saying something about someone being cheap then coughing as she walked out the door.
 
The whole malicious schadenfreude culture is corrosive to a healthy society.

Forgiveness and tolerance of humanity in general is just becoming a thing of the past. We all makes mistakes, yes some worse than others, but if we're going to be a human "family" we have to find a way to make allowances for those who fail to live up to our highest ideals.
 

Punished Miku

Gold Member
I still haven’t seen the video for that, just heard people talking about it, I will watch it later. I was not speaking about that or any video in particular, though the one that kinda pushed me over the tipping point was the woman at a supermarket saying something about someone being cheap then coughing as she walked out the door.
You should check it out. It's just two random people. But this was national news all day. I saw it at work on Good Morning America walking by the TV. This woman is one of the most hated people in America today. And she literally could have gotten this man killed.



And there's tons of these over the last couple years, all white women lying to try and hurt black men. All saved only because they were recording. It's kind of the tipping point for a lot of this Karen meme stuff going around, only it's far darker than the typical "let me talk to the manager" type. They're straight up trying to get people put in prison. And any time the cops show up to a situation they are told is violent, someone could be shot even if nothing is going on. It's on par with Swatting someone, but actually even worse, because they're also lying and saying you committed a crime.
 

DragoonKain

Neighbours from Hell
You should check it out. It's just two random people. But this was national news all day. I saw it at work on Good Morning America walking by the TV. This woman is one of the most hated people in America today. And she literally could have gotten this man killed.



And there's tons of these over the last couple years, all white women lying to try and hurt black men. All saved only because they were recording. It's kind of the tipping point for a lot of this Karen meme stuff going around, only it's far darker than the typical "let me talk to the manager" type. They're straight up trying to get people put in prison. And any time the cops show up to a situation they are told is violent, someone could be shot even if nothing is going on. It's on par with Swatting someone, but actually even worse, because they're also lying and saying you committed a crime.

Was that the whole video or was part of it cut? It was only a short clip in there.

From what I saw in that video my initial thoughts are she grossly exaggerated the situation and yes I agree, she could have gotten the man killed, it is somewhat similar to swatting.

Though whether it matters or not ultimately, I don't know if she intended to get this man arrested or if she knew the consequences of what she was doing or not. She surely could have just been a spiteful cunt who wanted to have the man arrested. She also could have just been in a no tolerant mood and way overreacted. I'm always big on intent. I think it's what separates the evil from everyone else. In this case I don't know what category she falls under.

But overall I think the culture of going around recording everyone is doing more harm than good. Black Mirror actually did an episode about it and that was years ago.
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
That recording in Central Park potentially saved his life. Literally could have died, or been arrested and sentenced.

She called the police and lied, and tried to get him arrested, while stating that she was in danger when they showed up. What she did is just as bad or even worse than violently assaulting someone, and the only thing that even protected him was his foresight to start defensively recording in advance because he saw how unstable she is.

And then, zero charges filed for her attempt to ruin his life. So in that case, what do you do? Fine, post it on social media.

This is one of the few cases where I fully support it. Until false accusations receive HEAVY punishments on par with what they're false accusing the person of, then I support this. The justice system is not caught up yet, and it's a dangerous crime that needs to be deterred.

She called the cops because she said she felt threatened, and by his own words he said something that could be construed as a threat.

Since when did the standard for calling the police turn into "100% sure a crime is being committed." I remember hearing that it is okay to call the police if you feel threatened or in danger. The fact is that situations like this are adjudicated by police hundreds of times a day in NYC. And let's not pretend there is ironclad enforcement of the dog leash statutes in NYC parks. Now you might think she is crazy or an asshole for calling the cops in this situation, but I don't know her life. I don't know what she felt in that moment.

This is what I mean about "30 misunderstood seconds."
 
Last edited:

Punished Miku

Gold Member
And there it is, the stupidest take on this shit.

Low tier shit post from you. Are you driving or something? Usually you at least explain yourself.

You act like no one has been shot by the police when they show up to a situation they are told is violent. That's literally the only reason people die from Swatting. Because it happens sometimes. All this guy had to do is encounter cops told this man is violent, and he maybe reaches in his pocket to get his phone to show them the video, and one cop has bad training and is trigger happy. It's not illogical in any way.
If you're telling police that someone is a threat, it has consequences. It puts the accused person in potential danger.
 

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
I agree that it is sometimes unwarranted and is used maliciously, I remember a particular one where some woman was asking some people to move their parked car from a corner as it was parked illegally and was a hazard because it reduced visibility and it was spread around like she was being a racist asshole when she was just pissed off. But if someone is being a genuine asshole to someone then they deserve to have it broadcast. I don't think a lot of people can tell the difference however, and the doxing and spamming to the person, friends and employers is something I vehemently disagree with.
 

DESTROYA

Member
I sort of agree , the first things people do these days is whip out there phone when a situation arises and not sort out the potential problem, just doing that typically doesn’t help any situation but adds fuel to the fire .
 

MaestroMike

Gold Member
lol all men should probably have video recorders ready with them if they have to go near cops/women their word is enough to ruin ur as$
 

Cybrwzrd

Banned
Low tier shit post from you. Are you driving or something? Usually you at least explain yourself.

You act like no one has been shot by the police when they show up to a situation they are told is violent. That's literally the only reason people die from Swatting. Because it happens sometimes. All this guy had to do is encounter cops told this man is violent, and he maybe reaches in his pocket to get his phone to show them the video, and one cop has bad training and is trigger happy. It's not illogical in any way.
If you're telling police that someone is a threat, it has consequences. It puts the accused person in potential danger.

Do you know just how many situations police deal with where they are told someone is being violent or threatening? Police respond to thousands of calls every day dealing with situations where they are told someone is being violent, and are able to successfully deescalate the situation without going in guns ablaze in nearly every case.

Being afraid of cops shooting you is like being afraid of great whites while swimming at the beach. The media loves to blow it out of proportion because it fits their narrative and is profitable to report on. But when a person dies from a dog attack, unless it is a certain breed, you won't even hear about it.
 
Last edited:
I really don't think this is a sound argument. That's like word coming out that states will now be invoking the death penalty on petty theft crimes and responding "maybe don't steal a pack of gum, then?"

The punishment does not fit the crime. Losing your temper like a human being in public should not subjugate one to death threats, endless ridicule, harassment, and loss of employment.

We are trying to set unrealistic standards. In fact, I think this kinda stuff propagates it. People are all tense now and under way more stress than they can't leave the house without being monitored by someone.

In many cases with the internet, and social media, you’re right: the punishment doesn’t always fit the crime. Someone having a bad day and just throwing a fit shouldn’t be a “social death sentence.” But, if someone harasses someone, especially if it’s physical, to me that’s on them. If they get recorded doing something like that, threatening someone, anything like that, that’s on you.

I’ve never screamed at someone in public. I don’t think that’s an unrealistic expectation.

Cases of people going way overboard trying to sic the cops on someone for no valid reason, I mean, that’s a dick move. That’s on them.

I don’t disagree with you though, especially about constant ridicule going way too far, and as far as death threats go, that’s just never appropriate.

However, I can’t help but be curious, did you stand up for the person who lost their shit in GameStop a little while back?



I don’t remember this individual garnering much sympathy.
 

DragoonKain

Neighbours from Hell
I agree that it is sometimes unwarranted and is used maliciously, I remember a particular one where some woman was asking some people to move their parked car from a corner as it was parked illegally and was a hazard because it reduced visibility and it was spread around like she was being a racist asshole when she was just pissed off. But if someone is being a genuine asshole to someone then they deserve to have it broadcast. I don't think a lot of people can tell the difference however, and the doxing and spamming to the person, friends and employers is something I vehemently disagree with.
It's not the act of broadcasting it in itself that causes harm, there's the reaction to it that stems from the tendency of people today for getting their rocks off at wanting to destroy everyone and everything.

The ramifications of posting that video has to be factored into the decision to do so. It can't just be looked at in the vacuum of "someone was an asshole and I recorded them being one!" It's person is an asshole for a moment and now has their lives ruined.

Most of the time it's momentary lapses in judgement. We're speaking very generally here using the term "asshole" as my definition might be different from yours.
 

Punished Miku

Gold Member
Do you know just how many situations police deal with where they are told someone is being violent or threatening? Police respond to thousands of calls every day dealing with situations where they are told someone is being violent, and are able to successfully deescalate the situation without going in guns ablaze in nearly every case.

Being afraid of cops shooting you is like being afraid of great whites while swimming at the beach. The media loves to blow it out of proportion because it fits their narrative and is profitable to report on. But when a person dies from a dog attack, unless it is a certain breed, you won't even hear about it.

This post is true at the same time that everything I said is true. Nothing in it contradicts each other.

I said it's possible he could have been killed, and it is. Killed from her lie.

You're arguing the probability of that is low. And it is, but it's not zero.
 
Top Bottom