Forbidden love between creepy old guy and young girl
James Franco said the above statement in an interview the other day with Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan on “Live with Kelly and Michael.” He is absolutely right…but not at all for the reason that you might think. In this case, what he should have said is, “When you try to hook up with a 17-year-old girl and she shares it with the world causing embarrassment and PR grief, then social media is tricky”
Read the complete story about the video here
I’m not going to debate if he is in the category of ‘dirty old man’ or just opportunistic. Let’s face it…there are lots of relationships with that type of age difference. (Franco is 35). I applaud him for his ‘facing the music right off the top’ and not hiding from the issue. That’s commendable…especially considering it was ALL out there already and it really couldn’t be spun at all.
I am going to take issue with is his reasoning that social media is tricky. It’s not because it’s confusing or challenging or anything like that. In his case it’s tricky because he already has a huge spot light on him and social makes that light bigger.
For the rest of us, social media is tricky because of three key points.
1.) People can share everything instantly and widely.
2.) You can’t control what people share.
3.) Most people don’t take the time to understand the platforms they are using.
The first two you can’t control unless you choose to be extremely private, lock down your accounts and interact with no one. Case in point…I shared something about a friend of mine and he was extremely offended that I had shared it. He considered the issue, not for public consumption with my audience. He himself had shared the same information publicly, so I didn’t see a problem with what I had done until he told me so. It was not meant in disrespect or to create problems but I didn’t learn until later that it was something he didn’t want shared. My point…no one knows what you are willing to have shared unless you tell them. Lesson learned? If you don’t want something shared…DON’T SHARE IT.
The third is all up to you.
Once you get your head around those three points, the rest is easy and the tricky part is gone.
If you are on social and not in an anonymous way, live with two thoughts. “Is this something that I want the whole world to know about?” and “What would my loved ones/boss/mom think about this?”
If you are anonymous, just live with one thought? “If my identity is discovered, will how I’ve carried myself here create problems in my life?”
One more thing. I really like Kelly Ripa, but I have to take issue with her for one thing she said, “It happens to everyone.” NO IT DOESN’T Kelly. It happens to people who make poor choices or bad decisions. I wonder if her take on it would have been the same if it was a 35-year-old man hitting on her daughter?
Take away: Learn the tools you use, balance risk, assume everything is available for all to see.
Last point to ponder…Franco has a new movie coming out with eerily similar plot lines to what just happened. He also is a very intelligent man and in the media…
Could it all be a hoax to help promote his new movie?? 🙂
