One of my favorite sports figures is Herm Edwards. Edwards is a former pro football player and is now coaching at Arizona State University. Back when he was working for ESPN, his thoughts on football and other subjects were always interesting and entertaining. Some of you may remember Herm from a press conference years ago when he was head coach of the New York Jets. When asked about his team’s effort in a losing cause, he replied with a now famous quote, “You play to win the game!”
On ESPN, he was once asked about a current football player who had posted something on social media that had caused problems for the player and his team. Herm answered, “The solution is simple, don’t press Send!” Other commentators on the network picked up the quote. When someone in sports would send out something on social media that backfired and caused problems, the folks at ESPN often said, “As Herm said, ‘Don’t press Send!’”
I thought about that Herm Edwards quote this past week when hearing of the recent Supreme Court case involving a high school girl and her phone. Brandi Levy, who was 14 at the time, failed to make her high school varsity cheerleading squad. She proceeded to get on her phone and spill out some very profane language about her school and cheerleading on Snapchat. The post got back to the school, so the school responded by removing her from the junior varsity squad.
Instead of backing the school and using it as a teachable moment for their daughter, her parents did what is now the preferred response. They sued the school. The case made it all the way to the Supreme Court where it rule 8 to 1 in favor of the girl. The favorable ruling was based on the girl’s First Amendment right of free speech, since it took place off campus.
So Brandi Levy won her case. In response, she stated, “The school went too far, and I’m glad the Supreme Court agrees. I was frustrated, I was 14 years old, and I expressed my frustration the way teenagers do today.” Well, I suppose that makes it okay.
It seems like there are a lot of folks around who need to listen to Herm Edwards. I bet there are some high school students who thought they were going to Harvard University a couple of years ago, who wish they had.
The Associated Press reported then that “at least 10 students who were accepted to Harvard University had their admission offers revoked because they made offensive comments online, the university’s student newspaper reported. The Harvard Crimson (The Harvard campus newspaper) reported that some students in the incoming freshman class created a private Facebook group in December where they traded images and messages that were often sexually explicit and sometimes mocked racial minorities. The university tells accepted students that their offers can be withdrawn if their behavior ‘brings into question their honesty, maturity or moral character,’ among a variety of other reasons.”
Those students aren’t the only ones who end up regretting having pressed that Send or Post button. More and more institutions and potential employers are checking social media history. The words and images posted online are being used to evaluate potential new students, employees, etc. They may discover that what sounds and looks cool to your teenage or young adult friends might not appear that way to your fifty year old potential future employer.
So the Supreme Court judged a case this week they really shouldn’t have had to hear in the first place. The solution could have been some parental discipline, while working with the school. Then, maybe someone would have learned, as Herm said, to “Don’t press Send!”
Mac McPhail, raised in Sampson County, lives in Clinton. McPhail’s new book, “Wandering Thoughts from a Wondering Mind,” a collection of his favorite columns, is available for purchase at the Sampson Independent office, online on Amazon, or by contacting McPhail at [email protected]
The Link LonkJune 26, 2021 at 05:43PM
https://www.clintonnc.com/opinion/53918/learning-to-dont-press-send
Learning to ‘Don’t press Send!’ - Sampson Independent
https://news.google.com/search?q=Send&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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