Look at this picture and analyze it.
What do you see?
I was looking through the infamous Facebook and "creeping" on my little sister's page when I came across this picture of her and some friends playing Beer Pong in my garage. I first saw this image and thought, "Hmm, I wonder how they got the beer.....?", and then I realized what I just asked myself- What the hell is my fourteen year old sister doing playing root in my garage with her other freshman friends. I know high school is a time when kids begin to experiment, I had my first drink freshman year too, but something about this public display on Facebook made me so angry. It made me sad to see my angelic little sister doing something that I know would jeopardize her standing at the private school she attends. I also was ashamed that my little sister was doing things I never did when I was her age, but upon reflection, I began to blame myself. I always played drinking games with my friends around her, I let her hang out with us, join in the fun, but I never thought that what I was doing would set a bad example for her. I called my mom; not to tell on her, but to explain my frustration. I asked her if she was home that night, and she said yes- which shocked me. (Was my mom letting kids drink in our house? Were they doing it while she was home?) I then asked what Becca and her friends were doing, and she explained they were playing games and dancing and making s'mores and that she came up with the cutest idea...... ROOT-beer pong.
Pictures lie. A photo may reveal some truth, but out of context, becomes a lie. The picture looks like students playing beer pong. Some who have a good eye for age would know these students are freshman in high school and clearly should not be playing a drinking game. But what I didn't realize, because the photo doesn't allow it, is that the cups were filled with root-beer. My mom, although potentially training younger students in the art of college "athletics", was being responsible, and judging that a group of kids together would be tempted to drink, decided to play into their desire by making a clever twist. I end with another famous quote from my mom "I invented Thumper, you would pass out playing against me."
kevin,
ReplyDeleteVery interesting blog, you raise the point that if a picture is taken out of context then it becomes a lie. I disagree, respectfully of course. Pictures can be taken out of context and not become lies. It is the people looking at the picture who create the lies. When you looked at this picture you assumed that there was beer in the cups because that is what you associate red cups and ping pong balls with. There could have been anything in those cups but you made the assumption that it was beer, if you had assumed there was water or soda in the cups you would not have been concerned about your sister playing the game.
Pictures don't have the power to lie, people do.
more importantly though, the kid holding the ball in the picture has terrible form and needs to keep practicing.