Cobra Effect Essay

Social media never forgets and can be unforgiving. It does not matter if the situation involves celebrities, athletes, or international corporations, no one is immune from the court of public

Ronson also talks about how Google plays a role in the continuation of public shaming. Ronson quotes Jared Higgins, who says “What the first page looks like determines what people think of you” (Higgins 265). Through this quote, Ronson shows how public shaming ruins an individual for years to come. The results of their shaming incidents will always be at the top of Google’s search engine.

Consequences are an effect to any choice no matter good or bad. Strongly shown in The Outsiders By: S. E. Hinton the main character Ponyboy Curtis, a young 14 year old is forced to make courageous and heroic decisions from a very young age. Being the younger one and living with his two older brothers Darry, age 20 and Sodapop, age 16 he is often over loved. He belongs to a group called the Greasers, rivals of a wealthier group named the Socials, but more commonly known as the Socs. One night after going to the movies Ponyboy and his friend Johnny fall asleep in a vacant lot.

Public humiliation has changed immensely weighing heavily on the creation of the internet introducing the idea of online cyberbullying as opposed to scaffolding in a town square. As modern society revels in putting people on a public pedestal, the scaffold that Hester Prynne is put onto marks her as no longer a person with feelings, just as a negative figure people look upon to make themselves feel higher. After the news broke of Monica Lewinsky’s scandal, people no longer recognized her as a young adult who makes mistakes, but was treated like a person with no emotions and incapable of being affected by her mistakes. As the story went on throughout the internet, she was only represented as a person through the mistake she made just as Hester Prynne was recognized for the crime she committed. Publicly shaming Hester Prynne and Monica Lewinsky is and was a way for people to make themselves feel better and place themselves higher in society.

This means that some decisions may seem totally acceptable and justifiable by man’s standards, but in the end these same decisions lead to

In the article, "The Dark Side of Web Fame" by Jessica Bennett, posted online at http://www.newsweek.com/dark-side-web-fame-93505 and published on February 21, 2008, the author recounts multiple stories of when the power of the internet had not benefitted people, but had actually harmed their reputation. Bennett starts the essay by giving an example of a high school boy who made an unfortunately embarrassing video, that was never meant to be published. Sadly, another student found the video and released it online, where the video became a viral sensation and the teen was humiliated not only on a local level, but a global level too. Throughout the article Bennett gives other examples to show the reader that people, using the tool of the

Far too often, humans don’t consider the consequences of their actions, and whether this is due to the fact that we have power or wealth or we simply just don’t care, because we’re determined to get something done, we as a species should always consider what the outcome of our actions are going to be. Perhaps if we did so more often, we would have the problems that we’ve accumulated over the years, like deforestation and pollution. So, as humans progress further, there is one important question that we must ask ourselves, is our determination in doing something justified, and will our actions have a positive

Social media has become a world stage for many people to display and share their accomplishments, failures, and even their shenanigans. No one seems to care anymore if their boss, spouse, or conservative grandmother knows how wild that party they attended over the weekend was, or who their romantic fling was with that week. It’s a sad fact and even though most people do it, posting ones every day move can still affect their job and personal relationships.

the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide...was itself a punishable offense” (Orwell, 65). In 1984, looking suspicious or emotional in front of a telescreen was dangerous and considered a punishable offense. In the present day, social media is the equivalent to the telescreens, it’s the means by which individuals display themselves publicly. Posting the wrong thing on social media can be dangerous because if it’s public, it’s exposed to open interpretation. Jon Ronson from the New York Times Magazine published an article giving a few instances of people sharing controversial postings on social media and receiving a major backlash for it. Specifically, Ronson talks about a woman named Justine Sacco who tweeted, “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!” Upon her arrival, she realized this tweet was trending. She was judged by her friends and family, and the tweet generated threats and harassment on the internet from the general public. As a result, Sacco lost her job and was scared to leave her own home. This incident is an example of the reasons why, in this day and age, we must be very careful with what we share publicly. Social media exemplifies of how our world is becoming like 1984. Any misstep in our words or actions can wind us

Simpson, David D. and Thomas M. Ostrom. “Effect of Snap and Thoughtful Judgments on Person

Like many victims, Connie chose not to pursue civil actions. In her case, it was a financial reason; she simply did not have money for a settlement. Afraid that this incident might haunt her further, she has moved out of the city, changed jobs, and erased her online presence. Connie's story illustrates the damaging impact the internet has on

The doctrine of double effect if often invoked to explain the permissibility of an action that causes a serious harm, such as the death of a human being, as a side effect of promoting good ends. It is claimed that sometimes it is permissible to cause such harm as a side effect of bringing about a good result even though it would not be permissible to cause such harm as a means to bringing about the same good end. The reasoning is summarized with the claim that sometimes it is permissible to bring about as merely foreseen side effect a harmful event that it would be impermissible to bring about intentionally (Uniacke 1984).

The “Butterfly Effect” is a metaphor that encapsulates the concept of sensitive dependence on initial conditions in the chaos theory; namely that small differences in the initial condition of a dynamic system may produce large variations in the long term behavior of the system. This is a great theory that can be applied to specific aspects of life and life in general. I believe it can be applied to my life in the sense that every event that has occurred in my life; big, small, good or bad. I would not change anything, because they all came together to bring me to where I am today.

In today’s internet savvy world, ‘Shaming’ has become an aspect of core-competency. And this aspect holds the power to destroy lives and confidences. This issue has become so large in the past few years that an entire book (“So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed”) has been written focusing on this very topic. But who is responsible for this chaos? Is it the person engaging in bad behavior or the person pulling the curtain off of the act? The answer depends on whom you ask. Social media when used properly has proved to be a powerful tool against the powerful organizations and influential people. Giving voice to pain of millions.

Social media. We have all heard of it. We have all raved about it at some point in our lives. There is no doubt; it plays an imperative part of people’s lives today – users are reliant on social media. It is great that Mark Zuckerberg reminds us to say, “Happy Birthday” to our friends. Yet, we have all seen the dangers it can cause. From identity fraud to cyberbullying - we become exposed to the dangers of the internet. Not only is it hackers and frauds that cause destruction, but social networking posts. Every day, you scroll through Facebook, or Instagram - liking, sharing and commenting on posts. What people don’t see is how words on a ‘status’ or ‘tweet’ can hurt someone. They can’t see that a person’s feelings behind the screens on a computer have been destroyed, because they can’t see what they don’t want to see.