A Van and A Flag
This week saw the sacking of Emily Thornberg, British Member of Parliament, from her job as a “shadow minister” because of an uproar over a photo she tweeted, sans caption.
The photo:
UK politics are an especial mess at the moment as an election looms and the conservatives are being threatened from their right by the UK Independence Party, so “any false move and you’re dead.”
When I saw the photo I was clueless as to the apparent offense and to my relief I am not alone.
The Manchester Guardian even went to the trouble of writing an article to (try to) explain it to non-Brits but that fell flat as hundreds of commenters weighed in with a variety of views.
The Offense
First, flying flags is apparently both tacky and a “lower class” activity in Britain.
The flag that was flown is the flag of England and the contemporary connotations are either football related or an expression of nationalist fervor.
The van marks you as working class, including the color.
Go figure.
Ms. Thornberg is the member from Islington, a wealthy part of London.
She is also of Labour so perhaps think of Nancy Pelosi tweeting a photo with no caption of a Latino pride sticker on a “low-rider” car.
The “people” are left to fill in the blanks, and they will.
The Transaction
Prior to the rise of the internet and social media 99% of people lived in complete anonymity where their thoughts, words and deeds were known only to themselves and perhaps a few close associates.
Anonymous
Not any more.
Leave aside the aspect of the internet where people can “search you out” and focus instead on our ability to put “ourselves out there.”
It’s enormous, especially given a 24-hour news cycle and the need for publishers to sell advertising space with ever more trivial or sensational “news.”
If “everybody wants to be somebody” now you can with all of the attendant woes.
When notoriety was harder to come by the “famous” had publicists to monitor and control their media exposure to minimize the likelihood of bad press.
They would even chase reporters down to bargain about news content and perhaps threaten repercussions for a negative story.
A Star Is Born
Each of us is now free to seek out the limelight and to self-promote till the cows come home.
What seems to be forgotten in the mix is that we have no control over how recipients of our promotion will interpret our message.
Perhaps more importantly, we act while forgetting that they can react.
Many of us learn everyday that “save” is usually a much better option than “send.”