Social Media Case 9

I have never heard of a General Authority trying to sell something related to their calling or a talk they have given. I remember when the Ponderize talk was given, but I did not hear anything about the website that was created and the merchandise they tried to sell. It made me kind of sad to hear about, and while they probably had pure intentions to begin with, it was disheartening to see them try and profit off the church. This church leader did apologize, and said that he should have stopped this website from ever being started. However, the damage was done and he still received heavy criticism. Ponderize was meant to mean ponder and memorize, but after this event the Urban Dictionary had a different definition for the word.  

While I believe that you should not use your religious position to try and sell merchandise, I do not think the General Authority and his son meant any harm by what they had done. It makes me wonder if other church leaders knew they were planning on launching this kind of website and if it was okay for them to do so. I also think that if the proceeds of the merchandise were going towards a charitable cause, they should have stated that in the first place and not after the fact. It just made them look guilty and like they were trying to make up for doing something wrong. It also kind of made it seem like they were only going to donate the proceeds because people were unhappy with what they had done.

Devin Durrant and his son Ryan probably did not think they were going to be so heavily criticized, and I think that is the case for a lot of people. They do not think of the power of the internet, and how many people are going to scrutinize what you do.

Social Media Case 8

We need to always be careful about what we do online, because no matter how simple or unintentional it may be, it could always come back to haunt us. I think this is the case for the server Chelsea Welch. Chelsea was fired for posting a picture of a receipt where a customer, Alois Bell, was upset about the mandatory tipping. Bell stated that she gave God 10%, so why do you get 18? She scratched out the tip line, and signed the receipt Pastor Alois Bell. Welch was not even the server who waited on Bell, she just happened to see the receipt and take a picture of it. In the moment, she probably thought it would be funny to post, or even a way to blow off steam because it is really frustrating when you work hard and get stiffed. She probably had no idea her actions would go viral, as they so often do. What started out as something she probably deemed harmless caused her to lose her job. You can hear what she had to say about this situation here.

Pastor Bell was at first furious over the incident, and wanted everyone who had been working that night to be fired. She was receiving a huge amount of backlash for her actions, and was being called out for being UnChristlike.  After receiving more criticism she claimed that what she had done was a ‘lapse of judgement’ and felt sorry for the whole ordeal. You can watch a short news clip detailing the event here. Her reputation was really damaged and while she did not lose her job, she received a lot of criticism online. She felt ashamed because she brought such negativity to her church and ministry. While this should have never gone viral, it is hard to feel sorry for her when she acted so rude.

Applebee’s policy  was very clear that you could not do anything to breach the confidentiality of a employee or guest. Chelsea knew this when she signed her contract. While Chelsea was fired, I think the Pastor’s reputation was much more damaged. People were rallying for Chelsea and saying it was unfair for her to be fired. People were commenting awful things about the Pastor and how it was unacceptable, especially because of her position.

Social Media Case 7

Being in the public eye can mean your every move will be scrutinized. If you are in a position where you know people are going to be watching you, you have to be very careful about what you do and say. I think this is especially true if you are in politics because not only are people going to be carefully watching you, there are those people who are going to be watching specifically for mistakes. I feel like we live in a society where the higher your reputation, the harder you have to fall. I think this is the case with Anthony Weiner.

He was in a high position of power by being a Democratic representative. Because he had such a big reputation he had a lot to lose, and that he did. When he was investigated and later charged for texting explicit images of himself to a young woman who was a minor, he lost everything. You can read about his court case here. It details what happened, and how the sentencing was judged. Not only did he lose his position, his wife filed for divorce, he was sent to prison, and had to be registered as a sex offender.

At first he denied what he had done, but the truth eventually came out. I think that although he eventually came clean to what he had sent, the damage was already done. When I hear about a public figure denying any sort of scandal and trying their best to cover it up, only to realize they can’t so they tell the truth, I tend to not accept their apologies. To me it seems that they are not remorseful about what they did, they are remorseful about being caught. Anthony had several cases of sexting scandals  and only after he realized he was going to be charged did he stop denying what he had done and start apologizing. When your every move is being watched, I do not think trying to hide what you have done will do you any favors. It will only make you seem guiltier.