Re:The Ashley Madison Database Was Leaked
by tunesmith on Wednesday August 19, 2015 @12:55PM
(#10086814)
I see a real, damaging increase of the "Callout Culture" in general.
Even here on hacker news, I've seen a handful of callouts in a way that used to be much rarer on discussion sites. I'm talking about the things where someone makes a comment, someone else then researches them or their history and the replies with a comment challenging them on whatever - perhaps tangentially related, but just "out of bounds" enough to be embarrassing and silencing.
More generally, it seems to be culturally acceptable these days to asymmetrically name-and-shame someone for offensive yet private and legal conduct. The thing is, it is usually difficult to defend each offender on a case-by-case basis, but it still doesn't mean it's the right thing to do to call in the anonymous hordes to attempt to ruin someone's life.
This is a clear example - chalking it up to "if they didn't want to risk exposure, they shouldn't have signed up" is right up there with "if you're not doing anything illegal, then you shouldn't have a problem with being monitored/drug-tested/whatever". Maybe there's a split in our society where one demo is completely comfortable with having all their private data out there and occasionally exposed, or to feel more communally "owned", but that doesn't mean it's right to expose someone else.
Even here on hacker news, I've seen a handful of callouts in a way that used to be much rarer on discussion sites. I'm talking about the things where someone makes a comment, someone else then researches them or their history and the replies with a comment challenging them on whatever - perhaps tangentially related, but just "out of bounds" enough to be embarrassing and silencing.
More generally, it seems to be culturally acceptable these days to asymmetrically name-and-shame someone for offensive yet private and legal conduct. The thing is, it is usually difficult to defend each offender on a case-by-case basis, but it still doesn't mean it's the right thing to do to call in the anonymous hordes to attempt to ruin someone's life.
This is a clear example - chalking it up to "if they didn't want to risk exposure, they shouldn't have signed up" is right up there with "if you're not doing anything illegal, then you shouldn't have a problem with being monitored/drug-tested/whatever". Maybe there's a split in our society where one demo is completely comfortable with having all their private data out there and occasionally exposed, or to feel more communally "owned", but that doesn't mean it's right to expose someone else.