Psst. Hey. You want to hear about really dumb people? Of course you do. We humans always want to feel superior. We all know proclamations of how ‘amazing’ your life is through Instagram photos and hashtags is all the rage right now. Well guess what? You know, criminals? They turned to posting their crimes on social media. 

Derek Medina, a resident of Miami, is one such example. He shot his wife dead after an argument, and later posted it on Facebook. A picture of his wife’s lifeless body was put with the caption, "I'm going to prison or death sentence for killing my wife. Love you guys miss you guys take care Facebook people you will see me in the news. My wife was punching me and I am not going to stand anymore with the abuse so I did what I did I hope u understand me." (sic) Medina calls his murder “self-defense”, and that he is “not a killer” (I thought killing people made you a killer, but apparently not).

The court is the judge of whether or not Medina is guilty as accused; but how do we as a society respond to the fact that he chose to publicize his actions via Facebook? Did killing his wife make him feel powerful? More important? What would incentivize him to brag about killing his own spouse? That’s what I want to know. Why have criminals and delinquents alike turned to such boasting when they really should have their heads hung low in shame?

It makes me feel even worse to know that this act of conceit is now a commonality. In 2011, a teen from Pennsylvania pleaded guilty to raping an intoxicated 20 year old woman; after which, he shamelessly turned to Facebook to hire a hitman to have her murdered, saying “I got 500 on a girl’s head who wants that bread”. (Ooh that rhymes. Sorry readers.) He was later caught by an undercover cop; but followed up by posting that he “needed this girl knocked off right now” (sic)

Although one may argue that the use of social media aided the conviction of these criminals; is this shameful trend not to be questioned? Boasting about committing acts started out bee conceited teenagers who vandalized; but “tweeting”and “facebook-ing” molesting a woman, or murdering your own spouse, sickens me. Committing a crime is bad enough. Pride and contempt from criminal acts are the characteristics of psychopaths and sociopaths. Is this what the rage of being important and popular on social media platforms is going to lead to? A society of sociopaths; immune to conscience, empathy and basic humanity? I had always thought social media could turn into menace but never knew that it would contribute to our society in this manner. It’s time to get concerned world, time to act.

By: Jiyu Nam