Posting faces

After a lot of thought I have decided that going forward I will no longer be editing submissions of people behaving obnoxiously or badly during the commute to remove or obscure facial features.

I always felt it bordered on bullying to publicly shame someone who may "innocently" (I use the word loosely) be ignorant about public commuting etiquette but recent discoveries on social media (Tumblr, Instagram and Twitter) is demonstrating to me that people don't care and in fact, are actually proud of being a douchebag and documenting their deplorable actions for the world to see. What's incredible to me is how these people react when I comment on their pictures.

How dare I?

How dare I, what? Call you out for being ridiculously rude or ignorant about the space I have to share with you? The worst photo so far is one I came across on Instagram on Sunday where a woman, about 21 years old or so, had taken a used feminine hygiene pad, one with wings, and stuck it to the window of a GO train while her friend posed beside it. The picture was hashtagged: #gotrain #TOM #decorating #bird #carrie #promnight and others I can't recall. I made the mistake of commenting first and then trying to screenshot the photo on my phone, which is always a big production because I have to use the Stylus pen, and after closing out of the app by accident and coming back in, my comment gave the photographer of this bullshit stunt time to remove the picture. She then took the time to berate me on one of my Instagram photos about minding my own business and asking why I care about what she does on a GO train.

I told her I care because it's clear her parents don't.

Frustrated that I couldn't get any of this drama documented, I told her to fuck off. Not my proudest moment because I dropped myself down to many floors below her level. By the time I got home she must have figured out who I was because she deleted everything: her account and her comments on my account.

In a way, I felt vindicated because she realized the errors of her ways and how close her revolting stunt came to biting her in the ass in a forum she would have no control over - my website.

Maybe she'll think twice about what she thinks is appropriate behaviour on a GO train from now on.

This morning at the bus stop, one of my bus mates told me flat out I shouldn't be cropping out heads or saving anyone from embarrassment.

The damage was already done the minute they decided their sense of entitlement was more important than the traveling comfort of passengers around them.