The double standards in shaming Smith Meyers

I first discovered Jon Ronson’s book “So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed” last summer during one of my regular podcast loops at work. Ronson discussed his latest literary endeavor with Chris Hardwick on the Nerdist podcast and shed light on a topic I had never truly thought about on a deeper level: public shaming in the social media age. Cases like those of Justine Sacco, Lindsey Stone and Jonah Lehrer form the backbone of the book as Ronson depicts the swift-moving and often life-ruining mob mentality of public shaming on sites like Twitter and 4Chan.

In every one of these cases, the results of the online backlash far outweigh the severity of the target’s transgressions. Lindsey Stone, who posted a photo of herself on Facebook in 2012 making an obscene gesture at Arlington National Cemetery, was fired from her job as a social worker due to an overwhelming amount of online backlash. She also received death threats and didn’t leave her house for a year in fear that she would be recognized in public.

Yet, the book’s real draw is Ronson’s discussion of the sadistic enjoyment shamers seem to get out of “punishing” people like Lindsey Stone. Public shaming is, in fact, a group effort that requires a sort of mob mentality in order to be efficacious. And while public shaming can be incredibly useful to hold corporations and elected officials accountable, it’s hard to ignore the disastrous effects it can have on its less powerful targets. There is no “innocent until proven guilty” rule in the world of Twitter.

This discussion inevitably leads us to the case of Smith Meyers, who, in case you were living under a rock during Spring Break, was arrested last week in Key West after police said he drunkenly knocked over motorcycles and reportedly didn’t even know he was in Key West. Needless to say, a lot of people were waiting for something like this to happen, and they flocked to social media as soon as the story broke. Some called for his removal as the incoming Student Body president, some merely posted his mug shot with the caption “Go Gators lol” and some commented that they “want what he’s having.”

But beyond the instantaneous social media coverage was a deeper sense of schadenfreude in regard to Meyers’ misfortune. While this probably stemmed from students’ overwhelming dissatisfaction with everything Meyers stood for (Impact party, Greek life, the UF establishment), it manifested itself in an extremely problematic fashion. While I have little to no sympathy for someone who blacks out so hard he doesn’t even know what city he’s in, I do have sympathy for someone whose life will be seriously impacted by one stupid decision he or she made in college. We should indisputably hold incoming-Student Body President Smith Meyers accountable for his actions, but we should also have some compassion.

I’ve never been arrested or run for an elected position, but I have definitely done some incredibly stupid things in my 21 years of life. I’m sure we all have, and perhaps we should keep that in mind when we’re laughing at a fellow student’s misfortune. Meyers ran for Student Body president with full knowledge that he would be held to a higher standard, so there should be some consequences to his arrest. But we should also remember how easily we could have been in the same position and give him the same consideration we would want for ourselves.

Marisa Papenfuss is a UF English senior. Her column appears on Tuesdays.