Ducks in a Row: To Die For…
by Miki Saxon
Last year I suggested creating the SMIA (Social Media Idiot Award) as a way to honor all those who assist in their own arrests via social media.
But that was then…
Smart phones have enabled great leaps to previously unreached levels of stupidity.
Last month I shared the selfie stupidity exhibited by spectators at the Tour de France.
I now believe the SMIAs have achieved Darwin Award status.
For the innocents among you, Darwins are given posthumously to people for removing themselves from the gene pool, i.e., their death is the result of their own overwhelming stupidity, such as the couple that went past a barrier set up to keep people off the cliff edge at Cabo de Roca and slipped while trying to take a selfie—and did it in front of their kids.
Here are other recent entrants.
Last week a man in Mexico was taking a selfie when he accidentally shot himself in the head. Others have sustained injuries while taking selfies: A man was trampled by a bull in France while trying to take a photo in front of it, and a reporter was nearly hit in the head by a stray baseball while snapping a photo of herself.
Culture and societal norms change.
Starting in the Elizabethan era people longed to be a “nine days’ wonder.”
Since the Sixties people hoped for “15 minutes of fame.”
These days they are willing to die for 15 seconds of social media fame.
Who said “change equals progress?”
Flickr image credit: Gidzy
