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In an article written for the New York Times, author William Cohan poses the question, “Should the smart-money crowd be held accountable for the harm caused to people who use the products and services created with the money that springs from their coffers?” (Cohan 1). The product he has in mind is a popular app called Yik Yak. It allows users to post messages on any subject anonymously on college campuses; the biggest issue this raises is the ability to post racist, threatening, or misogynistic messages without consequences. There have been petitions to shut down the app and that investors should bear some responsibility for financing it. I will argue that some of Yik Yak’s users are immoral, and that users should be held responsible for the …show more content…
There are responsibilities that come along with respecting others; it means we have to be individuals, and to be an individual we must behave independently of prejudices, personal preferences, or self- serving motives (Ingram, Parks 146). As individuals we are given reason and will; due to this we are members of the “kingdom of ends”. When people post spitefully they are not being respectful – they are allowing prejudices to control their behavior, which violates the respect that all members of the “kingdom of ends” deserve. Kant argues further that people should be punished for their wrong actions, which also supports my notion that users should be held responsible for what they are posting …show more content…
In short, posting a distasteful message just because someone else did is not morally justifiable. In order to live ethically, we must act consistently and rationally; anonymous hate messages would have to be posted by every single person, no exceptions, in order to be considered a moral obligation. Some possible solutions to the ethical dilemmas that Yik Yak causes are making the app less anonymous so users are more accountable for what they post. Currently, the only way to reveal who posted a “yak” is through a subpoena or court order. A different and more extreme measure would be to shut the app down completely. As I stated previously, there is an online petition with more than 78,000 signatures urging that Yik Yak be terminated indefinitely (Cohan
As we lose ourselves and our values, worth, and identity as people in the corporate culture, the objectives of monetary profit, status within a company, and machine-like work ethics replace our ethical judgement and our values as people. Perhaps there is nothing we can do about it; after all Skilling and Fastow did not realize what they were doing is immoral and illegal until they were sentenced or even released from their sentence. We are all too absorbed in this capitalistic corporate world we live in. Just like the ancient Chinese philosopher Fu Xuan said, “He who is close to the ink will be stained black,” (Fu, “Prince Shao Fu Xuan”), We have been too used to the immorality and unethical practices of corporate culture that we’re not only numb to the wrongdoings of others within this capitalist society, but we also replace our values as people and our ambitions to do good with objectives of the corporate world. Prebbles posed us the question that after centuries of capitalism’s existence in our society, will our ambitions to do good prevail against our monetary desires and the corporate norm of only profit-driven decisions?
Social media and technology plays a huge part in today’s society. People do things and post them up thinking it won’t affect them in the future. Once something is uploaded onto the internet it never goes away. In his essay, “The Web Means the End of Forgetting,” published in July of 2010, written by Jeffrey Rosen, a Professor at Law at the George Washington University Law School and a graduate from Harvard College and Yale Law School. Rosen argues that the issue of social media sites in the new era we are living in is getting hard for us to forget the things we post on the internet like Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Instagram, etc. Rosen states, “... the Internet never seems to forget which is threatening, at an almost existential level, our
Since its creation, the Internet has continuously grown in importance as a means to obtain information. This is due in part because it is not censored like the rest of America’s mainstream media, such as television, newspapers, and the radio. Nevertheless, the issue of censorship has raised many controversial issues, not only in the United States, but also throughout the world. In the debate by Intelligence2 (2008): Google Violates its Don’t be Evil Motto, it is argued that Google has violated its self declared motto that it wouldn’t be evil, thus putting people’s interest before their own corporate financial interests. While Google has committed certain questionable acts I do not believe they have violated their motto. Harry Lewis, Randal Picker, and Siva Vaidhyanathan argue that this violation is exposed in Goggle’s agreement to cooperate with the Chinese government in exchange of a larger monetary market and in its advertisement market (Intelligence2, 2008). Nevertheless, Esther Dyson, Jim Harper, and Jeff Jarvis argue that while such actions have occurred, the good it has brought to the over all population exemplifies their don’t be evil motto.
with their religion or ethnic group exposed in a light that may be very negative and insulting to
In “Youthful Indiscretions: Should Colleges Protect Social Network Users from Themselves and Others?” Dana Fleming presents an essay concerning the safety of social networking sites and how Universities can deal and prevent problems. This article is targeted towards school administrators, faculty, and a social networking user audience who will either agree or disagree with her statement. I believe Fleming presents an excellent, substantial case for why she reasons the way she does. Fleming gives a sound, logical argument according to Toulmin’s Schema. This essay has an evident enthymeme, which has a claim and reasons why she believes in that way. Toulmin refers to this as “grounds."
A social media post that creates negativity as well as a civil issue for both the individual and the fire and emergency service can occur through intentional malice or occur accidently. “It is rare for firefighters to post in malice but it does happen” (Roberts, 2012, para. 3). Timothy Dluhos, a FDNY Emergency Medical Service Lieutenant, is facing legal action along with the department, due to a social media post ranting about a patient and posting a photo of the patient in a wheel chair with a wide load sign photo shopped into the photo (Saul, 2013). While it is unclear if FDNY has a policy on social media postings, the woman is seeking damages from emotional suffering and Lieutenant Dluhos has since resigned from his position with FDNY (Saul, 2013). Many argue that the use and posting on social media is his or her constitutional right, however the first amendment of the United States Constitution states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or a...
Today, modern technology has changed our way of life in many different ways. We spend most of our time staring into our phones and do not realize our surroundings. According to Jean Twenge, the author of “ Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation”, ninety-two percent of teens report going online at least once a day, and fifty-six percent admit they go online several times a day. This may sound unrealistic but why do we spend so much time on social media? In “ Our Minds Can Be Hijacked”, an article by Paul Lewis, Lewis interviews Google, Twitter, and Facebook workers who helped make technology so addictive and demonstrates how we can prevent ourselves from being harmed by it. I believe companies are partially responsible for creating addiction
Since being introduced in the 1990s, social networking sites have taken over people’s lives. From Facebook to Twitter and Snapchat to Instagram, these social networking sites are included in our day to day life. People use these sites to keep in touch with each other and the world. As a prominent fixture of our lives, social networking has a great influence over our opinions, decisions, and perspectives. Out of all its users, teenagers are the most susceptible to social networking’s influence; it can lead them to living an ethically right life that fosters learning and goodwill, or an ethically wrong life that encourages addictions and bad behavior.
With easy access to the Internet and the multitude of Internet services providing all this free web space, many people decide to take advantage. A person may have a very strong opinion about a subject and feel the need to voice that opinion on a personal web site, whether it is for the purpose of talking about his or her self, or informing others of a particular issue. What happens when it’s an opinion that some think is funny, yet others find hurtful and offensive? Can sites like this be censored in order not to offend people? But what about the people who find it amusing? Isn’t t...
Anonymity can bring out the worst in people – people may become bullies, openly racist or sexist, or may even threaten or provoke others. The latest example of this behavior comes from student protests at this campus where racial tension recently led to the resignation of Mizzou’s university president. As evidence for racism in the campus community, the student body president had screenshots from this anonymous social platform. Launched in 2013, Yik Yak spread quickly enough to become a core mode of interaction among students in many universities and colleges because of its features of anonymity and transience of identity. As a social network, it is the perfect platform to provide a glimpse into the culture of a local community where people are free to not hold back any discrepancies. As is often with the case of anonymity, sometimes what people see is bullying, hate speech, and threats; however, the content like the hate speech and threats from Missouri are actually largely the exception for Yik Yak culture. Yik Yak feed usually contains typical sexual jokes and complaints about classes and weather, along with strains with positive messages of
Sandler, Ronald L. Ethics and Emerging Technologies. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press, 2013. Print.
As social media has become more relevant in my generation, I have begun to see just how hate speech has evolved over time. Recently, a video from a campaign movement was posted on our class canvas page that expressed different stand points on why hate speech should be stopped. I gained a stronger opinion on banning hate speech, especially now that people are finding ways to use fighting words anonymously and not within a political view. In this video one of the interviewee’s mentioned how people online have the mindset that they do not have to take responsibility for the crud words they say over the internet because it is anonymous and they are not saying it directly to someone’s face they cannot be punished. Things that are viewed and said over social media can come off as very offensive. I think a common thing that is misunderstood by many is that there are different forms of hate speech and using social media to hide your identity is just one of them. We need to address all forms of hate speech and not just the cases seen in public
People can stop talking to someone who they consider offensive, they can walk away. Words don’t hurt people, despite the current popular opinion. Free speech should not be limited by anything it should just be free. Some people will say horrible things, but when they say such things to other people, people will think that they are horrible, and not listen to them anymore. Laws against saying certain thing don’t protect anyone, all they do is hide the true nature of people, until it is too late to do
The 90's internet boom gave rise to new ways of writing in through access to cyberspace. What used to be printed or handwritten on physical surfaces such as paper, cardboard, or bulletin boards has changed to 0's and 1's, bits and bytes of digitized information that can be displayed thru the projections of computer screens. Moreover, the internet has made the process of publishing one's works, writing letters, or chatting with one another much easier and convenient for everyone around the globe. The internet became a universal tool, giving much freedom and flexibility to the users; it gave them opportunity to deliver their thoughts with little or no restrictions. Since it's impossible to regulate all cyber-activities, internet users are often unrestricted by the normal laws or authorities that would set boundaries around the various online transactions. More importantly, the fact that a net user can take on different identities in cyberspace brings about several ethical and social issues. These anonymous and unrestrictive characteristics of cyberspace often permite abusive users to easily involve themselves in serious cybercrimes such as cyberstalking, cyber-rape, and cyber-harassment through chatting services, emails, cyber communities, and other online communication.
In the 21st century, digital media has gain popularity from young adults. There are over 1 billion users solely registered on Facebook (Solberg, 2014). However, issues of privacy and publicity are being brought to attention, though it has been used in problematic ways such as academic research, personal reputation, or policing. The faulty policies of social media websites like Facebook are potentially putting users at risk and are outweighing the benefits, which in turn can negatively impact their social perceptions.