Ah, Bullshit!!

[Before I get going, you'll notice I've cited all my sources, which are represented by the numbers in parenthesis. I welcome all comments. This is food for thought that I hope will shape consciousness and action.]

According to a recent CareerBuilder.com survey 22% of employers check Facebook in order to further qualify candidates(1). This is complete horsehockey.

"Why?? Don't employers have the right to know who they are hiring??"

NO!! They have no right to invade my privacy. And think about it, how far can you take this?? What if someone doesn't like my politics or views on religion. It runs over into discrimination and I want to get a job because I'm a hard worker, not because I act like a jackass on my own time. Seriously, haven't our rights been eroded enough to the point where we shouldn't have to put up with big business looking our shoulder.

There are so many issues involved. The first is the perception of character. We have to "look good" for everyone. It doesn't matter what's really going on. We have to hide who we are for appearances and the ridiculous idea of social acceptance. You wanna see what I mean, start telling people you are pagan in your neighborhood and workplace. As we've seen just this past January you can still be accused of witchcraft and lose your job over it(2).

Abraham Lincoln once said, "Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing." I believe we are confusing the two. Since corporations, who have more legal protection than the citizens of this country, want to mistake the two then they need to look in the mirror. Bernard Madoff, Enron, Adelphia, John Rigas, Jack Abrahoff, have all been accused of some criminal activity whose benefit has far outweighed the punishment. So tell me how this balances someone looking at my character for a Business Analyst job??

Second, this kind of behavior also violates the Terms of Service agreement of Facebook:

'You understand that the Service and the Web site are available for your personal, non-commercial use only...Additionally, you agree not to use automated scripts to collect information from the Service or the Web site or for any other purpose. You further agree that you may not use the Service or the Web site in any unlawful manner or in any other manner that could damage, disable, overburden or impair Web site. In addition, you agree not to use the Service or the Web site to:

* impersonate any person or entity, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent yourself or your affiliation with any person or entity; . . .
* intimidate or harass another;
* use or attempt to use another's account, service or system without authorization from the Company, or create a false identity on the Service or the Web site. (3)'

If a violation does occur how can we possibly do anything about it?? You can set your profiles to Friends Only. Control who can view your personal information. Many of you know that I don't use my real birthday online. It's a safety precaution because all of those applications we use pull birthdays. Go through the Settings tabs and limit who can see what. This also reflects what can be seen on Google should you search. There's a great article by George Lenard, see reference (3).

I find this kind of behavior repugnant. Since I began working in Colorado there has been a steady increase of corporations that run my credit. Why?? What if you have bad credit and you want to get a better job to get out of debt. Are corporations denying people the opportunity to make more money to get out of debt and thus keeping the poor at station?? Nah. That would be morally reprehensible. Corporations couldn't possibly be involved in such devious behavior because they have less laws applied to operations.

The solution would be to educate our children about how to build credit, how to be fiscally responsible, how to question everything, and how to be politically active. It is only by teaching critical thinking skills in this manner will our society be able to shape itself and raise it to a place where we are no longer the victims of corporate greed and government corruption.

George Carlin once posed the question, "Where are all the bright people of conscience??" And my answer would be that we must make them.

(1) http://www.careerbuilder.com/share/aboutus/pressreleasesdetail.aspx?id=pr459&sd=9%2f10%2f2008&ed=12%2f31%2f2008&siteid=cbpr&sc_cmp1=cb_pr459_&cbRecursionCnt=1&cbsid=94065462324342abbee1e3fa378f2bd0-290258286-R3-4

(2)http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/01/going_back_to_our_puritan_root.php

(3) http://www.collegerecruiter.com/weblog/2006/09/employers_using.php