Fail Up by Tavis Smiley

“Colvin Caution.”
    The Social Media Minefield
    As the CBS MoneyWatch.com report warned, “Social media can be a minefield for the serious professional.” However, it’s not just the fact that technology makes it easy to catch us doing stupid or inappropriate things. These days, so many people—adults and children with no clue how it will eternally haunt their lives or professional careers—are willingly engaging in activities that may very likely go viral.
    Let’s start with the adults.
    Captain Owen Honors, the commanding officer of the aircraft carrier Enterprise, was permanently relieved of his duties in January 2009 for “movie night” infractions. Honors produced and starred in lewd and objectionable videos he shared with more than 5,000 crew members and pilots aboard the Enterprise. The videos became public after the Virginian-Pilot newspaper in Norfolk posted excerpts on its Website.
    According to news reports, the videos included evocative scenes of simulated masturbation, mock rectal exams, antigay slurs and demeaning satire and simulated bestiality.
    â€œHis profound lack of good judgment and professionalism while previously serving as executive officer on the Enterprise calls into question his character and completely undermines his credibility to continue to serve effectively in command,” Admiral John Harvey, head of the Navy’s Fleet Forces Command, told reporters.
    Lack of “good judgment” aside, Honor’s videos may have never been a news item and a blow to his career had Congress not recently repealed the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” ban, which didn’t allow homosexuals to serve openly in the military.
    Honors probably had no clue his cinematic contributions would go viral. But because of carelessness, the captain of a nuclear-powered carrier who, according to his commanders, performed “without incident,” has been reassigned to administrative duties.
    It’s important to note that Honors and the senior officers who knew of the videos and attended movie night with other crew members weren’t pie-eyed kids. They were all adults acting irresponsibly.
    â€œThis is the sort of thing you’d expect from a 19-year-old recruit, but you’re dealing here with a 49-year-old senior officer,” another Navy spokesman told reporters.
    Now, onto the real children.
    Back in the day, it was wrong but certainly not uncommon for young folks to go to parties, drink alcohol, abuse drugs, and engage in sexual activity. These days, the young folks are younger, the drinking and drugging are heavier, and the sex is even more casual. According to a 2005 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than half of all teens 15 to 19 years old have engaged in oral sex.
    Canadian filmmaker Sharlene Azam spent four years researching the clandestine and highly sexual lives of today’s teens for her documentary, Oral Sex Is the New Goodnight Kiss . In an interview with ABC’s Good Morning America , Azam said: “Oral sex is as common as kissing for teens and that casual prostitution—being paid at parties to strip, give sexual favors, or have sex—is far more commonplace than once believed.”
    I guess I can’t close this section by telling children to act like adults, since we’re all engaging in activities that seem to wind up more and more on the Internet. So all I can say is: If it’s not something you can live with anybody—and these days, everybody —seeing, think again.
    Turn It Off, For Goodness’ Sake
    No matter how we shuffle the communications cards, the indisputable fact is that we are all under surveillance. And I’m not just talking about “Big Brother” or sophisticated recording devices in the sky. I’m referring to the immediate and frequently irreversible repercussions of technology in the hands of the average Joe or Jane on the