How would you handle this?

[rhwestfall]

People rarely post things on FaceBook pages that do not show their mindsets and lifestyles. .

Bingo!

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

"Wrong" in a sense of it being socially unacceptable, but it is legal...

Some folks seem to be having trouble making a distinction between those two terms. Fortunately, at this point, Dylan doesn't seem to be one of them.

People rarely post things on FaceBook pages that do not show their mindsets and lifestyles. When you post racial slurs and pictures of animal cruelty on your FaceBook page, I believe just about everyone expects the friends who view them to be amused and approving. I believe Dylan got a real shock of reality when his FB page was widely viewed and condemned by people outside of his circle of friends and relatives. I think that finding out how many people think differently from the way he does was a real surprise to him, and that is probably why he pulled the page down when that reaction became so overwhelming.

I'm gonna give the kid some margin ... because I think this situation, perhaps for the first time, forced him to really think about some of the choices he has been making ... and I'm encouraged by how he responded.

I'm not gonna dwell on the Facebook stuff. You can't change the past. But you can change the future. Where young people are concerned, that's what matters ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[boulderjohn]

I'm gonna give the kid some margin ... because I think this situation, perhaps for the first time, forced him to really think about some of the choices he has been making ... and I'm encouraged by how he responded.

I'm not gonna dwell on the Facebook stuff. You can't change the past. But you can change the future. Where young people are concerned, that's what matters ...

Which is why I think this experience turned out to be very positive for him.

 

[TSandM]

This whole thing made me think a little bit about how our socialization works . . . it's pretty easy for young folks to form groups (eg. gangs) which are relatively isolated from the culture at large, and whose norms are quite different. Until or unless someone comes into contact with the larger group in such a way as to understand how the small group normals are disapproved, they will continue to identify with that small group, and may even view the larger norms as something to scoff at. I think Dylan may have existed in such a small subgroup, where his friends all thought his stuff with various animals were funny and worthy of approval. He's now had an awakening as to the values of the larger society, and he may be lucky enough to experience that as a wake-up call.

 

[boulderjohn]

This whole thing made me think a little bit about how our socialization works . . . it's pretty easy for young folks to form groups (eg. gangs) which are relatively isolated from the culture at large, and whose norms are quite different. Until or unless someone comes into contact with the larger group in such a way as to understand how the small group normals are disapproved, they will continue to identify with that small group, and may even view the larger norms as something to scoff at. I think Dylan may have existed in such a small subgroup, where his friends all thought his stuff with various animals were funny and worthy of approval. He's now had an awakening as to the values of the larger society, and he may be lucky enough to experience that as a wake-up call.

As a high school teacher and administrator, I saw that every year I was employed.

One year early in my career, I transferred to a new high school, and, as usual, the new teacher got the courses no one else wanted to teach. I was given two sections of English composition for high school juniors who had all failed the sophomore English Composition course. They were fun groups. In helping them work through researching topics to provide content for writing, we had some great talks as I got a glimpse of their culture and they got a glimpse of mine. They were absolutely unwilling to believe me--laughing at me, in fact--when I insisted that there is a sizable portion of the American people who reach age 20 without being arrested at least once. Everyone in the classes had been arrested at least once, and most had been arrested more than once. They could not believe there were people, including other students in the school, who were not like that.

When a UCLA Political Science major (of all things!) posted a YouTube video with what she and her friends thought was a knee-slapping funny monologue about the behavior of Asian students in the library, she was so shocked by the public outrage at her overt racism that she dropped out of school.

 

[pensacolaracer]

I used to have a TON of respect for Bob. I have read his articles, even looked at how I could apply them to my diving.

In short, I considered Bob a true Professional of the sport.

Then this whole mess happened. And the only thing I can tell myself is that "Professionals", regardless of what they are professional in, do not start (knowingly or unknowingly) an angry onlline mob against someone... especially someone who is much much younger than them... regardless of the circumstances. In my opinion, the word "Professional" means you are supposed to be able to rise above that which tends to suck people back down into the muck.

That did not happen.

 

[MMM]

---

---

A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

This thread seems to have run its course and has dissolved into bickering. It has been cleaned up with a great number of posts deleted and/or edited and is being closed to further comment.
Marg, ScubaBoard Senior Moderator

---