Internet mean-spiritedness hits a new low

[Dick Whitman]

So there is this Web site called "People of Public Transit."

Basically it's a meanie site in which people snap photos of fashion disasters on public transit and post them.

Hardee har har.

Site says that if someone requests their photo removed, they will do so. Chicago woman requests photo be removed. Site refuses. She enlists Chicago Tribune columnist's help:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/problemsolver/ct-biz-0926-problem-fastwolf-20100926,0,1506111.column

Site removes the photo.

Site sees the Tribune article.

Site replaces every photo on the site with hers:

http://www.peopleofpublictransit.com/celebration-extravaganza/#comments

This woman was just minding her own business, traveling back and forth from work every day, trying to earn a living. The fact that someone pulls this **** just to be an asshole disgusts me to no end. I understand there is no legal right to privacy when you are in public, but that doesn't mean that we can't try to pressure people like this to have some civility.

Everyone who reads this thread should post on the site's comments and let the proprieters know what they think of behavior like this.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Re: Biggest jerk on the planet?

P.S. I don't even know what to say about the kind of people who would snap a photo of a total stranger, minding their own business, just to turn around and publicly humiliate them.

 

[Stitch]

P.S. I don't even know what to say about the kind of people who would snap a photo of a total stranger, minding their own business, just to turn around and publicly humiliate them.

People of Walmart isn't a new phenomenon. Maybe people would look in the mirror before they left home.

 

[Dick Whitman]

P.S. I don't even know what to say about the kind of people who would snap a photo of a total stranger, minding their own business, just to turn around and publicly humiliate them.

People of Walmart isn't a new phenomenon. Maybe people would look in the mirror before they left home.

Or before they snap a picture of someone else in order to demonstrate their superiority.

Something tells me that it ain't a bunch of Jon Hamm and Brad Pitt lookalikes behind the camera.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I wouldn't call this site a new low. I would call this normal Internet snarkiness that has been in existence for some time.

I know you're right.

I just don't understand why someone would engage in that kind of behavior, the only purpose of which is to anonymously embarrass and bully someone else. Don't you stop at some point and think, "What a **** I am."

 

[NoOneLikesUs]

People of Wal-Mart rarely shows faces.

 

[dooley_womack1]

The Internet is the new sideshow midway, and all we see is not merely observation, but a chance to have our 15 Ceiling Cat minutes.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

I swear, someday, we're going to be reading about someone going postal about **** like this. A web site like that is going to humiliate the wrong person.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

I thought People of Walmart was hilarious for about two days. Then it just seemed ****ty and mean.

This one appears to have just skipped over the hilarious part and gone straight to ****ty and mean.

 

[schiezainc]

The difference between this site and People of Walmart is POW blurs people's faces as to not embarrass them publicly. The purpose of the site isn't "Let's make fun of these idiots" it's "Can you believe these people go out in public like this?"

If this site had posted the photo of this broad but blurred her face out, I'd be fine with it.

This is just mean spirited and it reeks of some 19-year old kid putting it together and saying "No, I won't take your picture down ***** because I'm into heavy music like the Foo Fighters and, therefore, am cool."

I look forward to the day one of these site's creators gets his/her comeuppance.

 

[farmerjerome]

The difference between this site and People of Walmart is POW blurs people's faces as to not embarrass them publicly. The purpose of the site isn't "Let's make fun of these idiots" it's "Can you believe these people go out in public like this?"

If this site had posted the photo of this broad but blurred her face out, I'd be fine with it.

This is just mean spirited and it reeks of some 19-year old kid putting it together and saying "No, I won't take your picture down ***** because I'm into heavy music like the Foo Fighters and, therefore, am cool."

I look forward to the day one of these site's creators gets his/her comeuppance.

Ditto. People of Walmart cracks me up but most of the shots are poor quality and unrecognizable. Most of it is just wacky ****.

Now these guys just violated their own policy, still got thousands of extra hits but all to see one picture. That was smart.

 

[AreaMan]

I visit people of walmart just to make sure no one snapped a picture of me wandering the local "mega-lo mart."

 

[CitizenTino]

The difference between this site and People of Walmart is POW blurs people's faces as to not embarrass them publicly. The purpose of the site isn't "Let's make fun of these idiots" it's "Can you believe these people go out in public like this?"

If this site had posted the photo of this broad but blurred her face out, I'd be fine with it.

This is just mean spirited and it reeks of some 19-year old kid putting it together and saying "No, I won't take your picture down ***** because I'm into heavy music like the Foo Fighters and, therefore, am cool."

I look forward to the day one of these site's creators gets his/her comeuppance.

What did the Foo Fighters do to deserve getting dragged into this?

 

[dooley_womack1]

Big him to talk about them.

 

[I Should Coco]

I agree this took nasty "humor" to a new low. Mean, nasty and stupid ... what goes around will come around, though.

Oh, and kudos to a fellow Daily Iowan alum for his "What's Your Problem" column in the Tribune. Good stuff by a good reporter.

 

[cranberry]

FYI, folks, journalism has unfortunately gone in the same mean-spirited direction.

 

[Buck]

I wouldn't take the time to take pictures of strangers. I don't even take pictures of people I know.
However, I don't complain about another's right to take pictures or to make fun of people.
I'm not interested, so I haven't seen the Web site. The fact that it exists does not bother me.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I felt guilty enough when I saw a woman who is at the waterpark, 8 3/4 months pregnant, wearing a bikini with a tattoo of a tiger across her entire belly, and slyly pointed her out to my wife, so we could share a laugh.

Taking a picture of said person and posting it on the Internet is pretty bad.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I wouldn't take the time to take pictures of strangers. I don't even take pictures of people I know.
However, I don't complain about another's right to take pictures or to make fun of people.
I'm not interested, so I haven't seen the Web site. The fact that it exists does not bother me.

This has nothing do with with whether someone has a "right" to do any of those things. Of course they do.

It is still repugnant behavior.

 

[Gator]

The guy who runs it is 28? What a ****ing tool. I could see if it's a college kid, but 28? At what point do you grow up?