Internet Harassment: The Flip Side of Internet Fame

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Recommended: theoretical framework on social media and mental health

In the article The Flip Side of Internet Fame by Jessica Bennett, Internet harassment is thoroughly made aware to inform active social network users of its solemnity. Real life scenarios of people who suffered from public humiliation or social desecration are presented. Bennett makes her argument conclusive by addressing her audiences' pathos and ethos appeal, sourcing credible individuals throughout the article and stressing the agony and ignominy that the listed individuals perceived. Furthermore, the author demonstrates how critical it is to be conscious about the possibility of not recovering from a fatal encounter on a social network and also raises the question: “What's to stop a person from posting whatever he wants about you, if he can do so anonymously and suffer no repercussions?”(115). Bennett tries to enlighten the reader of “the dark side of Internet fame”(113), showing how publicity may not always be marvelous.

The author tries to stir up the reader's pathos appeal, giving scenarios that knock up their emotion. Opening up the article, the author talks about a Canadian teen who filmed himself acting out a fight scene from a well known movie series, Star Wars. The film was posted online and shined to the public causing a “viral frenzy”(113). People from around the world even edited the video, enhancing it with “music and special effects”(113) to ensure the film was more entertaining and amusing to the premature, sinful minds of the general public. Another scenario that resulted in internet harassment formed when a South Korean student refused to pick up her dogs feces in a local subway in Seoul. Someone caught this faulty act on video and decided to post it on the internet which of course attracted multiple numbe...

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...ses a threat of humiliation and maltreating from other individuals that can have a detrimental effect on their lives. A person can go from being a normal school student to a laughing stock on a popular social network or even trend from a emotionally stable individual to a deranged, depressed critter who now hides in the shadows of society hoping never to be revealed. The informative thought of the re-occurrence of public shaming throughout history from Bennett allows the reader to question if this is an issue that is perpetual and something that will never go away. Furthermore, the author conveys the idea that publicizing oneself can be a burden; the darkside of Internet fame. Wrapping up her article, Bennett portrays a warning to the reader stating, “Shame...will always be with you”(115). Harassment from Internet fame can alter a person's life-forever.

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