If you have a spare moment, don’t waste your time with www.thedirty.com. The Dirty is a Web site for the perverse and sick at heart. It consists of pictures of people from different towns and universities across the United States with “cute” tag lines underneath them including “Guess which group of girls are on the basketball team?” That’s one of the nicer ones.
Lucky for us, the University of Oregon has its own spot on the Web site, with 24 full pages of pictures of University students. Each picture has its own little critique by what I can only imagine is some unemployed, lonely 30-year-old with too much time on his hands. The creator is Nik Richie, the self-proclaimed “first ever reality blogger.” While browsing the University’s gallery, one is bound to find someone they know. The worst part is once you find someone you know, it becomes an obsession to find as many friends and acquaintances as possible.
I know that many people have seen this Web site; they may have even been intrigued a little bit, but I’m not one to judge those of you who have a taken a peek. However, the only way for these pictures to make it to the Web site is if someone uploads them and writes their own comment. This takes time, effort and a person with nothing better to do. Who decided this would be a good idea? Is there not enough judgment around campus already? Richie deemed it his responsibility to judge every person who appears on his site by whether or not they are doable, ugly or whether they need to shave 20 pounds off their 90-pound frames.
Although this is petty and superficial, it doesn’t erase the simple fact that there is now a new venue for people to be judged. This Web site allows judgments to be made anonymously and in unguarded language. It facilitates the ability for people to humiliate others in a way that allows them to be cowards. The Web site allows for some viewers to laugh and enjoy this, as if these people had it coming. People are plastered in what can be defined as moments that are not their proudest, while others make fools of themselves willingly. Regardless of the manner of these pictures, the idea behind putting them online for others’ pleasure is disturbing.
The hype behind this “dirty” Web site, with the main purpose of verbally offending anyone whose face appears on the site, is unwarranted. People should have enough respect for themselves as well as others to resist humiliating people in such a vain way where all tactfulness is lost. As someone who hasn’t yet appeared on the Web site, I still feel strongly that this has surpassed even my wildest dreams of what the Internet is capable of.
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