Are our reputations safe in the age of Facebook?

It’s hard to imagine now, but there was a time before George W. Bush that liberals were just as disillusioned with who was sitting in the White House. After eight years of Reaganomics, Americans on the left were eager to see someone, anyone derail the conservative machine. The Democrats’ first choice was Colorado Senator Gary Hart. Handsome and experienced, Hart was poised to make a serious run for the White House. That was until allegations of marital infidelity began to surface. Hart denied all the accusations, and seemed to be on the cusp of leaving them behind when a photo of Hart and 28-year-old model, Donna Rice, made its way to the front of the papers. The photo shows Rice sitting on Hart’s lap while the two partied aboard the yacht named appropriately enough, the ‘Monkey Business’.

Within days, Hart’s support plummeted, and he soon pulled himself out of the race. The Democrats were forced to nominate the effete, 5’6, Michael Dukakis. They might as well have nominated Zac Efron. Bush the elder went on to trounce Dukakis. ‘Learning’ from their lesson, for the next four elections Democratic nominees have had to pretend that they were hyper-masculine salt of the Earth types, when they were so clearly not (IE: Kerry & Gore).

Reading about this political scandal twenty-something years later, two things immediately spring to mind.

1. How could a politician be so unaware, to ever let himself be photographed in such a compromising position?
2. If such a photograph were released today, in the age of Facebook, would it even cause a stir?

There was a time when a photograph which even hinted at some sort of ‘embarrassing’ behaviour could ruin a person’s reputation, if not career. One only needs to remember Gary Hart, or for you wrestling fans, Ric Flair, who when feuding with Macho Man Randy Savage revealed a shocking photo of himself and Savage’s wife Miss Elizabeth. Of course, even in the staged world of professional wrestling, the photo itself showed and proved nothing. But in the 1980s, it was enough to ‘ruin’ someone’s reputation.

Similarly, 80s pop sensations The Go-Go’s were rocked by scandal after a video was leaked showing them backstage *gasp* drunk, cavorting with members of the opposite sex! The video, taken after a concert, showed the clearly intoxicated members of the group sat around backstage while a male groupie danced naked. Despite the fact that none of the members of the band participated in any sexual acts with the man the video caused a huge stir. If such a video were released today, in an age where pop stars commonly appear in their own actual sex tapes, it’s hard to imagine people batting much more than an eyelash.

The stakes were much higher in 1997, when after a high speed chase with paparazzi, Princess Diana’s driver Henri Paul, crashed a heavily modified Mercedes-Benz in a Paris tunnel, killing both him and Diana. While the paparazzi were initially faulted, most of the blame later shifted towards Paul, who authorities alleged was driving intoxicated. However, even before Henri’s blood-alcohol levels were released to the public, the people had already made their judgement thanks to a photo taken of Paul years earlier. The photo,  which shows him holding a bottle of wine was released through the press, and was enough to cement his guilt in the court of public opinion. Whether Paul was actually drunk was beside the point; Paul’s guilt was decided.

Imagine if the crash happened today? All any reporter would have to do is scan the Facebook or MySpace page of an accused, picking and choosing whichever photo best served their incriminating allegation. Is there anyone who doesn’t have a photo online that wouldn’t lead to awful assumptions if placed in the wrong context?

Knowing this, in an age of ubiquitous digital cameras, both regular and cell-phone, not to mention Facebook, MySpace, Google-images, and Flickr, could any photo still make or break a person’s reputation? Extreme examples aside, it seems unlikely.

There was a time when politicians had to feign never smoking pot, despite the fact that they attended college during the 1960s (!) When the politicians of the future (who are right now posting pictures of themselves doing beer-bongs at a frat party on Facebook) come of age, are they going to have to go through the same song and dance? Unlikely, not when there’s photographic proof that everyone else have done the exact same things. Call it an over-saturation of embarrassment.

In the future, everyone of note (except for a few teetotallers, who nobody will like anyway) will have at least one questionable picture of themselves disseminated for everyone to see. I for one think it’s a good thing. Once the illusion that celebrities and other miscellaneous people of note are saints is shattered, we can move on and focus on the more important issues; which I for one think is way overdue.

Its unlikely that this photo will keep Jenna and Laura from entering the family business.