In the latest debacle perpetuated by social media, in response to yet another mindless TikTok challenge earlier this month, Larrianna Jackson, an 18-year-old high school student, punched a 64-year-old, wheelchair-bound, disabled teacher.
The teacher was a substitute, simply trying to do a job that frankly, 90 percent or more of parents want no part of doing.
In Trouble
In order to “meet the challenge,” Jackson had to have the attack recorded. This compounded the stupidity of her actions. However, as every choice has consequences, the young woman may face up to 10 years in prison. She was charged with felony second-degree battery and with cruelty to the infirmed. The incident took place on October 6, 2021.
Naturally, a mugshot picture of a smirking Larrianna Jackson has been widely circulated on the internet.
The attack was allegedly so violent, the teacher was knocked out of the wheelchair and suffered injuries so severe, hospitalization was necessary. I am neither judge nor jury, but I would not be shocked if the young woman saw at least some jail time. She will quickly lose her smirk.
Devious Licks
The trend is called “devious licks” and is tied to a viral TikTok challenge that has so far raised angry responses from the California Teachers Association and the Connecticut AG’s office. Why it has not raised condemnation from teachers’ associations in all 50 states mystifies me.
TikTok management has denied it is a trend, and certainly nothing of which it approves. Whether or not it is a trend, I cannot say. And, I have no doubt that TikTok censors will take down similar challenges should they be issued. However, it does raise serious societal issues that are clearly ethical rather than legal.
When – or how – our society has descended to such low, or no expectations amazes me. I believe a large part of the problem is that seemingly overnight, we have allowed social media and its vagaries to substitute for an ethical compass. Social media has become an arbiter of common sense (or its lack) and even as a parental substitute.
Whether a clueless teenager inflicts injuries on a disabled teacher, a scam artist begs for money on a funding page, a pseudo scientist disseminates incorrect information about a vaccine or an online bully posts racist, misogynistic or other hateful lies as fact, the result is the same. Our society is damaged and reduced to an ever-lowered common denominator.
Mistakes
The interesting ethical question for TikTok is whether they are ethically culpable for the injuries to this teacher? They will vehemently deny it, but my question remains. Indeed, are social media platforms absolutely open forums? If a hate group preaches its vitriol on Facebook or Twitter or any other site, and someone acts on it, is the platform free from blame? Some would say, “Of course.”
I am no longer ethically certain of that as fact. For Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok or any other popular social media platform, are for profit ventures. They exist to make money not because they are “good guys.”
Here’s an interesting ethical question: if TikTok has indirectly given credence to “devious licks,” should the injured teacher have the right to sue the platform for damages?
If Facebook, for example, allows a scam artist to post a miracle cancer cure, and several people who could have been conventionally treated succumb to the disease because they elected to take the miracle cure, could the site be sued?
Social media has an ethical responsibility to understand that what it allows, may be every bit as impactful as to what it prohibits. If TikTok disallows hate speech, it must also disallow dangerous teenaged pranks. These pranks MUST be more actively policed.
It leads me to a final mistake. Larrianna Jackson, who is 18, will be tried and treated as an adult. Perhaps she went into “the challenge” believing she was a still a child. She isn’t. She will, of course, plead for mercy as is her right. But on trial here, is TikTok as well. If one loses, perhaps the other ought to consider its role as well.
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