About once a week people on social media will share an image purported to be from an elementary school class. The lesson they are trying to impart is that things people post on social media can quickly spread far beyond just the initial account. There is a much easier way to tell kids that you should think twice before you post something online, however, one that actually shows the real world consequences of a social media presence. In short, let’s all learn from Deborah Drever.
The MLA for Calgary-Bow was elected as part of the overall orange crush that happened in the recent Alberta provincial election. She hasn’t even been sworn in, and has already been suspended from the NDP caucus due to the content of her social media feed, specifically a homophobic comment posted under a picture of Conservatives Jim Prentice and Ric McIvers. The comment read “gay boyz,” which is also offensive to fans of the letter S, and it was effectively the final straw after people combed her internet presence looking for things to object to. Turns out they found a lot, she became the poster girl for concerns about inexperienced and immature MLAs and the forefront of a debate about what a very young caucus would be able to handle in the new government.
The result is whether or not Drever has matured, she killed her political career before she had a chance to start it. Given that she was immediately suspended there is little chance she’ll actually be able to overcome youthful indiscretions and actually prove herself in the role. If anything, she’ll be forced to retreat to a life and career where she’s not under quite so much scrutiny about the dumb things she says on the internet.
What career is that? People have been fired after saying stupid things on the social media platforms they use, even if their jobs aren’t necessarily in the public sphere. The privacy of an online presence simply doesn’t exist, but people frequently forget this, and will say things that have negative consequences in their life and career. Some might argue that the consequences are deserved – they are certainly easily avoided – but the fact of the matter is that Drever is now a high profile example of someone whose social media feed is killing her career. She posted without thinking, as so many are apt to do, and now she will be famous for being that MLA who made stupid comments online.
Drever is a better lesson than any mass distributed message from an elementary school class, because she actually shows the real world consequences of a stupid comment. You can’t really tell the impact of what a widely distributed image will be, some kids will even think it’s great that they could potentially get fame from something they put online. Here is a woman who has just been suspended for her job because she said something stupid on Instagram, that’s a real world consequence and something more meaningful than just how far things are shared. Even comments with a relatively small audience can have an impact. If we can get kids to think about their social media presence from the beginning, the internet could theoretically become a much more civil, sensible place, and Drever is a great example of real world consequences.
