On Blogging. Firestorms, and Photography
Fresh when it gets here from
Julie Barrett
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Thomas Hawk has made a second post
concerning his expulsion from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Fortunately, he decided to moderate some of his language in the title
of the first post.
Since Hawk is a prominent blogger, it
didn't take long for this to get picked up on a number of web sites.
Predictably, a firestorm has erupted with people taking sides and
name-calling and (apparently) threats against the museum employee in
question. Someone has been posting the guy's home address. This is
wrong.
Was Hawk a little fast on the trigger with his
response? Perhaps he should have given it at least overnight. Perhaps
he should have contacted the museum. This is what I would have done.
But I am not him.
What this has done, for better or for worse,
is subject someone to harassment. Some people seem to take a vigilante
approach to righting perceived wrongs online. While there is absolutely
nothing wrong with speaking out about injustice, I certainly don't
condone taking the extra step of tracking down the apparent wrongdoer
and subjecting him or her to public humiliation. We quit using stocks
in the town square long ago.
If it does turn out the employee
overstepped his bounds, then it's up to the museum to deal with it, and
it's up to individual patrons to decide whether or not they want to
continue to visit or support the museum.
And on that note,
Hawk and some other bloggers state that they have since contacted the
museum and have had no response. I can certainly understand if the
museum has asked the employee not to speak out until they have a
statement. Regardless of whether or not he was justified in his
actions, any statement me makes on his own might inadvertantly fuel the
fire. However, this happened Friday and it's now (checks calendar)
Tuesday.
I'm very anxious to hear the other side of this story.
One
reason I'm so concerned is that I'll be doing some shooting in public
spaces this weekend. What will I do if I get confronted? For starters,
I'll have a copy of The Photographer's Right
in my bag. I'm generally not a very confrontational person, but I'll
try my best to stand up for my right to take pictures from public
property. I'll take names, but I won't kick a** because getting
detained is absolutely no fun.
Much to do today, but I'll update should the museum issue a response.
Tags: Photography
Filed under: Photography
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