"Forget Cat Videos: YouTube is Powered by Schadenfreude"

Acculturated:  Acting out in public means always having to say you’re sorry — at least if your actions are captured on video and posted online. (video at the link)....

She got drunk; she had a public tantrum. She launched an unprovoked attack on a man who was just trying to do his job. It’s hard not to sympathize with those who argue that this form of digilante justice offers swift, sure punishment to the entitled and badly behaved. We’ve replaced the public stocks in the town square with YouTube video shaming, a harsh but effective form of justice.

Ramkissoon at least had the opportunity to try to redeem herself by offering a nationally broadcast apology (she appeared on Good Morning America and declared, “I’m ashamed”; one imagines that had she not been a privileged medical resident, she’d have been giving that interview from the county jail, not across a table from George Stephanopoulus, but no matter).

And yet, those of us who film and watch these meltdowns aren’t entirely without fault either. YouTube is powered by schadenfreude, and ours is an era that has embraced a new voyeuristic bystander effect that encourages us to watch the shameful acts of others while reassuring ourselves that we would never do such a thing.

Perhaps we wouldn’t, but let he who has never had a bad day and said regrettable things in public cast the first stone.

Ramkissoon will soon fade from public memory, to be replaced by the next rude person unfortunate enough to have his or her behavior captured by a phone. But what shouldn’t fade is this question: Is this the kind of justice we want to encourage, one that rejects empathy for immediacy and forgiveness for shaming?

"Apparently Drunk Man Arrested For Posing As TSA Agent, Patting Down Women At SFO"

"Real TSA agents became suspicious of the man when he was seen ushering another woman into the private screening area, because men are only allowed to screen women in the booths if a female agent is present."

Internet Image

"It is not known whether surgeons were able to re-attach the men's ears"

"Two drunk Russian men each cut off an ear after taking part in an arm-wrestling match in a remote Siberian town."

The contestants had been celebrating Orthodox Christmas on January 7 when they agreed to the forfeit if they lost the match.

But when they failed to determine a winner, they decided to call it a draw.

In a sportsmanlike gesture both agreed to severe their ears - one completely, the other partially

Their wounds were likened that to painter Vincent Van Gogh who cut off his ear during a bout of depression.

The "best rated" comment...

After the match one turned to the other and asked "would you like another vodka Yuri?" and the other replied "no thanks, I've got one ear".

Don't Cry Over Spilt Nog

This wretched holiday is soon ended...