Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Privacy is gone. Prevent terrible things happening as a result of an inevitable mistake by earning the benefit of the doubt.

Donald Sterling was recorded in a private phone conversation. Boom. The end. No one gave him a break; no one gave him the benefit of the doubt. Why not? Because he had a reputation of being a bad person.

We all make mistakes. We all say the wrong thing or write the wrong thing. Something we utter “in private” becomes known to more people than we intended and we regret it. Do we get the boom like Donald Sterling? Even a little boom?

I believe that the answer depends on our reputation. Do people know us as a good person? (whatever that may mean in whatever situation we find ourselves) If the answer is, “Yes,” we have a chance.

Example: I was at a wedding reception. I saw a man pick up a snack from a snack tray, take a bite, then put the bitten snack back on the tray with the bite marks hidden.

How in the world can any responsible adult commit such a disgusting act? Later I learned that he was suffering from a terrible migraine, was dizzy, could barely stand, and was literally out of his mind for a few moments.

I didn’t scream to the whole world about the disgusting action committed in what the man thought was private. I knew the man as a good man. I gave him the benefit of the doubt. He had earned that from years of exemplary living.

Privacy is gone. I could have easily recorded a video of the man putting a half-eaten snack back on the snack tray. With one button press, that video would have been available to the world. One simple, headache-induced mistake would have ruined the man. Boom.

How do we survive in a world without privacy? Earn the benefit of the doubt.