This girl should not have been suspended for what she was (or was not) doing during her free time. I'm tired of this bullshit. I've looked at the photo. She appears to be holding a bottle of beer (her mother says something else is actually holding it near her mouth - that person had been cropped out of the photo or was never in the original image). She isn't drinking from it and quite frankly, even if she were, it's impossible to know for certain what is even in that bottle. Hell, there's pictures of me from when I was fourteen or fifteen giving a cheers with a beer can with my Dad. Anyone who knows me knows I did not drink from that can. It's called a joke. I hate these humorless institutions.
--- the photo in question ---
If this cheerleader had been caught drinking alcohol on school grounds, then by all means suspend her, expel her, whatever the school policy is...go for it. That's totally their jurisdiction. However, what this girl (or anyone for that matter) does on their free time is none of the school's (or your employer's) fucking business...ever. The fact that this photo was reported to school administrators anonymously is even more infuriating. Not only is this girl not being given a chance to defend herself, she is also unable to face her accuser which, correct me if I'm wrong, I thought was a fundamental right in the court of law. I assure you now, to anyone out there, if I am ever planning to take you down for something you have done (or that I believe strongly you have done), you can be assured I will do so using my real name because I don't do that shit. Regardless of what happens, I hope this anonymous accuser gets unmasked so s/he can be publicly shamed for this uncivilized behavior. Fuck anonymous snitches.
I don't want to hear that the internet is a public place. It is, but in the same way that parks are public places and that your front yard is a public(ly viewable) space. You can still be arrested for lewd behavior in a public park. The fact that it's public doesn't immunize you from prosecution. You can also peer inside windows of houses and apartments (especially at night) and look inside someone's house. No one will fault you for a glance. After all, we're only human. But if you linger, that's peeping and an arrestable offense even if the offense is committed from a decidedly public street or sidewalk (or even from the comfort of your own home if you happen to live across the street from such windows).
I look at the internet very much like a person's front yard. It's private property but it's viewable publicly. Though it's not really a choice, I'm inviting you to see my house, but only from the outside. To see the inside, you must be invited in. Anything else is a violation of my privacy and personal space. Just because my windows are transparent doesn't give the right to peer through them. The same goes for sites like Facebook and (the ever-atrophying) MySpace. If I haven't friended you, it means that I have not invited you into my (internet) life. You are only permitted to see my "house" (profile) from the "outside" (publicly viewable profile page). The contents therein are not for you. Just because we have to deal with each other in real life does not mean you have been automatically granted access to my internet life and certainly not my private life. If you gain access to that information either yourself or through another (even if it's through my carelessness), you are no different from a Peeping Tom and should be treated thusly. The rules for search & seizure ought to apply here as well: if the information/evidence gleaned and/or received has not been obtained through proper channels (and especially not legally), it is inadmissible for prosecution and even consideration.
Again, I don't mean to imply that we online should be able to act with impunity. If an employer doesn't allow its employees to do personal business online while they are on the clock (or with company equipment), I have no problem with that. A company has a right to determine acceptable behaviors for its employees during the time they are doing work for that company. It's only fair. It's the bleeding into our free time that's pissing me the fuck off. I am my company's bitch while on the clock but I belong to no one once my shift is over. The same goes for students and for law-abiding citizens.
So, to all school districts, government agencies, and especially employers who use or threaten to use what we post for our friends online in our free time to intimidate us or threaten our jobs, schooling, or even freedom over...go fuck yourselves. And especially fuck anyone who snitches on another anonymously for any reason be it perceptions of moral righteousness, revenge, or simply to get ahead in the workplace. You should all be unmasked and have your secrets divulged publicly. If you don't respect my privacy, you don't deserve yours. If you have a problem with me or something I have posted, you come to ME first and foremost. You don't go bitch to management about my alleged online activities.
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