All morning, I saw my timeline discussing a “Sharkeisha” and her Mortal Kombat-like moves. I had no idea who they were referring to, or why, but I knew it had to be some sort of viral video. When I finally decided to ask my followers, I was disgusted at what I was shown: a teenaged girl brutally attacking another girl, while a group of their friends looked on…filming for the internet.

Marisa Mendez

I’m not sure what’s worse: the fact that people these days are putting moments of internet infamy above the safety or well-being of themselves and/or their peers, or the fact that websites are glorifying these moments by posting them. Now, is InFlexWeTrust a squeaky-clean site? Not at all, and I’m fully aware of that. We want ‘fellas’ to ‘check the pics,” and we post some crazy videos, but I can confidently say we do use discretion. Worldstar is EATING today off of a video of KIDS HARMING KIDS. But what’s scarier is this has become expected! We log on to their site every morning and laugh at the “ratchet” videos, not realizing it’s our own clicks of the mouse that are encouraging people like Sharkeisha to do what she’s doing. It’s a vicious cycle, and I don’t have a solution for it, other than one no one will follow: stop watching the videos. It’s like a train-wreck, you can’t look away though you know you should.

Becoming “famous” is easier than it ever has been in the digital age, as young women are twerking their way on to television screens via reality shows left and right, and everyone wants a piece of it by any means necessary. While I don’t see this changing for some time, if ever at all, bloggers and website owners as the ‘gatekeepers of the internet,’ so to speak, do have the power to keep the videos from circulating AS much, and I think we all need to do our part in doing a better job of that.