Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Has It Really Come to This?

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by

James A. Bacon
in

Photo credit: EveryJoe.
Nicole Coon. Photo credit: EveryJoe.

I do admire Nicole Coon for her bravery in stepping forward to promote passage of the so-called “revenge porn” bill that now awaits Governor Terry McAuliffe’s signature. The pretty nursing student had sent an, um, embarrassing video to a boyfriend who, presumably when he was no longer a boyfriend, posted it on a website that demanded $500 for its removal. Coon risked public ridicule to correct an obvious wrong. Good for her!

According to the Washington Post, the bill would make it a misdemeanor to “maliciously” distribute a nude or sexual photograph of another person with “intent to coerce, harass or intimidate” without license. Maryland is considering a similar bill.

Clearly, such behavior is despicable and deserves to be punished. But, holy moly, do I really have to say this? What was she thinking? What’s with the Millennial generation? What’s with all this selfie business? Why the necessity to share intimate images? Can’t young people wait until they see each other in the flesh to bare all? Did America’s youth learn absolutely nothing from Anthony Wiener?

I have two daughters. Girls, if you’re reading this, pay attention: If your photo ends up on a revenge porn site, you’ll get zero sympathy from me!! Zero!!

And one more thing. Besides passing a law, perhaps we should set up a retaliatory site — www.scumbag.com — to show photographs of the jerks and cads who post their ex-girlfriends on revenge porn websites. Not only should such dirtballs face fines, they should be exposed to scorn and ostracism for being the contemptible scum buckets that they are. I also have a son. If you’re reading this, be forewarned: Pull a revenge-porn stunt, and I’m throwing you out of the house!

The younger generation… Jeesh!

— JAB

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8 responses to “Has It Really Come to This?”

  1. salz Avatar
    salz

    Mark Bauerlein, in a powerful book titled “the Dumbest Generation” addressed just this issue. His overall point: in spite of the massive benefits of the internet, the vast, vast majority of usage is young people going to Facebook, Myspace, etc where they are reassured that the world revolves around them which is, of course, the opposite of growing up. Bauerlein, before “Apps,” “Instagram, and other such new tech, presents specific research data will illustrates that the internet helps juveniles stay emotionally and intellectually juvenile while their bodies continue to mature. Since no youngster thinks about “privacy” and they now grow up without even awareness of it, it becomes very easy to “sext” for the instant gratification of hoping some specific member of the opposite (or in today’s world “same”) sex notices. Delayed gratification is gone and along with it is the ability to discern a range of future scenarios.

    Of course, those of us “older” generations have got our own issues. Remember, please, that 40 years after the chair of the FCC told us TV was a “vast wasteland,” we came up with faux “reality shows” and “Jackass I” and “Jackass II” and we refuse to listen to a TV news “soundbite” longer than nine seconds. And we are three generations removed from P.T. Barnum’s famous, “There’s a sucker born every minute.”

  2. Mary Devoy Avatar
    Mary Devoy

    “Coon risked public ridicule to correct an obvious wrong”. Really?

    She took the video and shared/disseminated that video with someone else.

    1. If the images are hacked or stolen a crime has occurred and some sort of criminal charges should be applied.

    2. If the images were taken without the person in the image knowing about it then a crime has occurred and some sort of criminal charges should be applied.

    3. If someone is extorting money from the person in the image, then a crime has occurred and some sort of criminal charges should be applied.

    4. If personal information of the person in the image like full name, address, phone numbers, email addresses, place of employment or school are posted with the photos to create situations of sexual propositions, harassment and stalking, then a crime has occurred and some sort of criminal charges should be applied.

    5. Websites that specialize in revenge porn soliciting men to take and send in images specifically to humiliate those pictured in the image should be made illegal and shutdown by the government.

    6. Once an image is sent to someone else they are lawfully in possession of the image and can do whatever they wish with the image.

    If the image(s) that were willfully distributed by the person pictured in them and they wind up posted on Twitter, Facebook, SnapChat, etc or in other peoples in-boxes the person in the image needs to take responsibility for sending the images out into the world.

    Once someone has shared an image with another person it is no longer theirs to manage. They can not control where the image winds up or who has possession of it. Not days, weeks, months, years or decades later. As the taker/sender it is now out in the universe and wherever it turns up is a gamble. But instead regret sets in they taker/sender of a sexual image needs to take responsibility for their own actions and that includes dealing with regret and the inevitable repercussions. But criminal or civil charges against other people is not a solution to a mistake they made, they need to own the consequences of their actions.

    Coon’s case falls into #6, not 1-5 and it should NOT become a criminal offense.

    She made a stupid mistake, she needs to take accountability for it instead of pointing the finger at an ex boyfriend for her error in judgment.

    At best the Virginia General Assembly should have made this a civil matter, not a criminal one!

    1. larryg Avatar
      larryg

      well stated! It appears that what used to be a bright line between what is a crime with a victim – and an innocent person .. has become a bit blurred.

      or perhaps – the way the law works, free speech, and the internet of things (once something is published, it’s forever) – we’re still working things out and the one that is among the more vexing is – what constitutes free speech on a website…. it seems to be much more than just “you can’t shout fire in a theater” any more.

  3. larryg Avatar
    larryg

    I think revenge porn is among the least of the issues when we have the modern technological equivalent of really vicious stuff going on that young people are goaded/bullied into suicide.

    most all young people that have a phone – do text…

    forget FB or other “social media”… just realize that the young today communicate via texting… and revenge porn is just one small part of it.

    if your son or daughter has a cell phone, they almost surely text their friends and who they hang out with … and their phone number gets shared.

  4. salz Avatar
    salz

    Former People editor Landon Y. Jones addresses the issue in an “Outlook” Washington Post column this morning. And one of the “Cheers” character recently noted something like, “She wants to be a famous singer. I just want to be famous.”

    Please re-read “the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and you’ll see the beginnings(?) of all this. Remember, Tom Sawyer was obsessed with the fame of the day, “the books,” which prescribed how, for example, Jim must saw through a bed leg (which he could have picked up) and eat the sawdust. Twain, in the medium of the day, was telling us that the medium of the day is destructive to our ability to think rationally. As Mr. Jones illustrates in his Post column — and Mr. Bacon writes about above — as the medium of the day has become tinier and tinier screens (or pocket mirrors?), our ability to think beyond our immediate desires (NOT needs) towards what we think is self-actualization has dissipated, at best, and disappeared, at worst. When, as Mr. Jones implies, celebrities reach their self-desired “self actualization,” they often/usually/ always find themselves unfulfilled. Have we become emotional Pavlov’s dogs?

  5. salz Avatar
    salz

    Oops, excuse me. That’s one of the “Glee” characters, not “Cheers” characters.

  6. salz Avatar
    salz

    Oops, excuse me. That’s one of the “Glee” characters, not “Cheers” characters.

  7. JOHN1000 Avatar
    JOHN1000

    “…boyfriend who, presumably when he was no longer a boyfriend, posted it on a website that demanded $500 for its removal.”
    I think the author and commentators should read state statutes on extortion. You are not allowed to threaten to injure (physical or otherwise) someone for money – it is extortion.
    For example: someone commits a crime and you know about it because he told you. If you say give me money or I’ll turn you in – it is criminal extortion. Just because he told you (or in the girl’s case–gave you the picture) doesn’t change that.
    I agree that this law is not needed but not for the reasons you state.
    This boyfriend is committing a crime and should be treated accordingly.

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