![\"selfie-900001_640\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/675\/2016\/04\/selfie-900001_640.jpg\")
<\/h4>\nOr suicide for that matter?\u00a0Veetle chief technology officer Ethan Wang recalls an incident back in 2008 when a teenager live-streamed his own suicide<\/a>. None of today\u2019s companies is investing in public safety<\/a>, Wang said on The Crime Report site<\/a>. And it doesn\u2019t appear that they\u2019re investing much in public morality either . .<\/h3>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
At breakfast the other morning I\u2019m listening to an NPR report<\/a> on\u00a0An 18-year-old woman in Ohio who is being charged with kidnapping, rape, sexual battery and a variant of distributing child pornography.<\/p>\nHow do you even concoct such a litany of alleged crimes? Live-streaming the alleged rape of her 17-year-old friend, that\u2019s how.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors assert that Marina Lonina broadcast the incident on the Twitter-owned app Periscope. The defendant claims (on legal counsel) that she live-streamed the alleged rape because she was trying to get the man to stop. Really?\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Sounds more like a freebie amateur porn flick to me . .<\/p>\nAnd Franklin County, Ohio, prosecutor Ron O\u2019Brien would tend to agree:<\/p>\n
\u201cShe continued to live-stream it and she told the police that she continued because she got caught up in the likes that were showing on her screen,\u201d he said.<\/em><\/p>\n\u201cAnd she didn\u2019t call 911,\u201d he continued. \u201cShe giggled throughout.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\nO\u2019Brien identified 29-year-old Raymond Boyd Gates as the alleged rapist and said all three appeared to be \u201cunder the influence. And at least the victim was highly intoxicated.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\u201cYou can hear the victim screaming, \u2018Stop,\u2019 \u2018Don\u2019t,\u2019 \u2018Please,\u2019 crying,\u201d O\u2019Brien said.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\nCaught Up in the Likes?<\/b><\/p>\n
Can you really \u2018blame\u2019 the kid on that one? That\u2019s where we are right now. Welcome to the New Voyeurism of the App Age<\/span>.<\/strong> <\/em>Whether it\u2019s Twitter\u2019s Periscope or Facebook Live, live-streaming is the \u2018New Selfie\u2019. The rub is:\u00a0With still photos, inbuilt technology, like automated algorithms, can help flag nudity or grotesque executions. Live video is a very different animal.<\/p>\nAlgorithms can\u2019t discriminate moving images at the speed of light. They can\u2019t, for example, tell whether someone is waving a handgun or a water pistol. And no computer program can predict what intoxicated or capricious \u2018live humans\u2019 will do next. Not even God can do that!<\/p>\n
So where does that leave us?<\/strong><\/p>\nIt leaves us drifting in a liminal lake of egregious disconnect. Whether its texting on the road, listening to the digitally packaged, musically manicured news as entertainment, or drunkenly giggling over the number of \u2018likes\u2019 an alleged live rape scene displays on our app, we\u2019re not in a very salubrious place . . to put it mildly. We\u2019re in a cesspit of moral blind sidedness and well . . . does anyone really care?<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\nMy 9-year-old daughter does . .\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nThe other day she, her brother and I were browsing around a seaside resort nicknack store. You know the kind, brimming over with shark\u2019s teeth, surf boards, and a zillion T-Shirts. So we\u2019re walking past a postcard rack awash with beach bodies. Pointing to the rear view pics of the Thong swim suit bikini gals, she comments, \u201cDad, what style of swim suit are those?\u201d . . \u201cThere\u2019s something gross about them . . can we move on?\u201d And we did, as the perplexity on her face said it all.<\/p>\n
She didn\u2019t understand 1)\u00a0<\/strong>why or how this style of swimwear was appealing, and 2)\u00a0<\/strong>why these explicit cards were \u2018just there\u2019 in a fun, funky store like this, in a way that disconcerted her innocent equilibrium.<\/p>\nAnd I had a difficult time answering her questions as we moved to the mug racks and \u2018mood rings\u2019 . .<\/p>\n
Pulling It Back<\/strong><\/p>\nWhat\u2019s one of the in \u2018tech\u2019 jokes these days? You start out on the first step of the escalator with your Samsung (whatever) Smartphone; by the time you\u2019ve reached the top, it\u2019s a dinosaur. Time to upgrade. Point being: we\u2019re addictive, obsessive, and controlled by a device in our hands that has the power to dangerously desensitize us to the pain, beauty, and fleeting reality of our little lifespans on this planet.<\/p>\n
We can miss what\u2019s actually playing out in front of our eyes if, like Marina Lonina, the live-streaming \u2018Likes\u2019 on our app are . . well just too engrossing.<\/p>\n
Sad, but this cute cartoon kind of depicts where we\u2019re at . .<\/p>\n
![\"iPhone](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/675\/2016\/04\/iPhone-Joke.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
What say you?<\/p>\n
Cover Photo: Pixabay<\/a><\/p>\n
How do you even concoct such a litany of alleged crimes? Live-streaming the alleged rape of her 17-year-old friend, that\u2019s how.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors assert that Marina Lonina broadcast the incident on the Twitter-owned app Periscope. The defendant claims (on legal counsel) that she live-streamed the alleged rape because she was trying to get the man to stop. Really?\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Sounds more like a freebie amateur porn flick to me . .<\/p>\n And Franklin County, Ohio, prosecutor Ron O\u2019Brien would tend to agree:<\/p>\n \u201cShe continued to live-stream it and she told the police that she continued because she got caught up in the likes that were showing on her screen,\u201d he said.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cAnd she didn\u2019t call 911,\u201d he continued. \u201cShe giggled throughout.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n O\u2019Brien identified 29-year-old Raymond Boyd Gates as the alleged rapist and said all three appeared to be \u201cunder the influence. And at least the victim was highly intoxicated.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYou can hear the victim screaming, \u2018Stop,\u2019 \u2018Don\u2019t,\u2019 \u2018Please,\u2019 crying,\u201d O\u2019Brien said.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Caught Up in the Likes?<\/b><\/p>\n Can you really \u2018blame\u2019 the kid on that one? That\u2019s where we are right now. Welcome to the New Voyeurism of the App Age<\/span>.<\/strong> <\/em>Whether it\u2019s Twitter\u2019s Periscope or Facebook Live, live-streaming is the \u2018New Selfie\u2019. The rub is:\u00a0With still photos, inbuilt technology, like automated algorithms, can help flag nudity or grotesque executions. Live video is a very different animal.<\/p>\n Algorithms can\u2019t discriminate moving images at the speed of light. They can\u2019t, for example, tell whether someone is waving a handgun or a water pistol. And no computer program can predict what intoxicated or capricious \u2018live humans\u2019 will do next. Not even God can do that!<\/p>\n So where does that leave us?<\/strong><\/p>\n It leaves us drifting in a liminal lake of egregious disconnect. Whether its texting on the road, listening to the digitally packaged, musically manicured news as entertainment, or drunkenly giggling over the number of \u2018likes\u2019 an alleged live rape scene displays on our app, we\u2019re not in a very salubrious place . . to put it mildly. We\u2019re in a cesspit of moral blind sidedness and well . . . does anyone really care?<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n My 9-year-old daughter does . .\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The other day she, her brother and I were browsing around a seaside resort nicknack store. You know the kind, brimming over with shark\u2019s teeth, surf boards, and a zillion T-Shirts. So we\u2019re walking past a postcard rack awash with beach bodies. Pointing to the rear view pics of the Thong swim suit bikini gals, she comments, \u201cDad, what style of swim suit are those?\u201d . . \u201cThere\u2019s something gross about them . . can we move on?\u201d And we did, as the perplexity on her face said it all.<\/p>\n She didn\u2019t understand 1)\u00a0<\/strong>why or how this style of swimwear was appealing, and 2)\u00a0<\/strong>why these explicit cards were \u2018just there\u2019 in a fun, funky store like this, in a way that disconcerted her innocent equilibrium.<\/p>\n And I had a difficult time answering her questions as we moved to the mug racks and \u2018mood rings\u2019 . .<\/p>\n Pulling It Back<\/strong><\/p>\n What\u2019s one of the in \u2018tech\u2019 jokes these days? You start out on the first step of the escalator with your Samsung (whatever) Smartphone; by the time you\u2019ve reached the top, it\u2019s a dinosaur. Time to upgrade. Point being: we\u2019re addictive, obsessive, and controlled by a device in our hands that has the power to dangerously desensitize us to the pain, beauty, and fleeting reality of our little lifespans on this planet.<\/p>\n We can miss what\u2019s actually playing out in front of our eyes if, like Marina Lonina, the live-streaming \u2018Likes\u2019 on our app are . . well just too engrossing.<\/p>\n Sad, but this cute cartoon kind of depicts where we\u2019re at . .<\/p>\n What say you?<\/p>\n Cover Photo: Pixabay<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n