Reflection on Social Media Case 7: Anthony Weiner's Post

The case of Anthony Weiner was one that struck a chord among many American’s. This man was elected to represent the best of what the people wanted and needed and instead found that he was an imperfect man. This incident was made much worse because of social media. Social media gave him a platform where he could be more secretive (or so he thought). But social media, as we all know, is accessible to the public. It started off as a rumor that was initially denied by Weiner that it was him in the photo, but social media offers a trail that cannot be erased. Anthony Weiner later confessed that it was him within the photos and discussions talking to young girls, and then withdrew himself from congress (which was a good move) because it only got worse for Anthony after the fact.

Once it was basically public knowledge that Anthony Weiner had in fact had relations of some sort with those younger girls, his professional career crumbled. His wife also filed for divorce and Weiner was found stating that his behavior was inexcusable and that his “continued actingout over years crushed the aspirations of his wife and ruined their marriage.” You would think that at this point it couldn’t get worse for the guy… but it did. He was investigated by the FBI and was found to have been sexting a 15 year old girl which was the last straw. Weiner had pled  with the judge to give him probation so that he could “be a good father” to his son. This was not adhered to however and Weiner was sentenced to 21 months in the federal penitentiary.

This whole situation got thrown into the lime light very quickly because of social media. Twitter seemed like the perfect platform to Weiner to engage in his atrocious behavior… But this was in fact his down fall. This sentencing that he received might still have happened if social media was non-existent, but I believe that his sentencing was the way it was because it was so public. They had to make an example of him.