Monday, November 16, 2009

don't leave your facebook unattended when there's an 11-year-old around

You know how sometimes people tell you a charming anecdote and when they realize you're just not feeling it they say something like "You had to be there"? Well, you may have had to have been there for this little story, which I have shamelessly ripped off from cc, but I never would do so if she had her own blog. I've been laughing about it all week.

Cc's husband, p, is a philosophy professor. He's very scholarly and has studied the greats in their native languages (we're talking French, German, Italian and probably other ones I don't even know about). Dude is smart. He goes to the opera (perhaps not by choice, but he still goes). And he can converse on a vast variety of topics--including "professional" wrestling, as orchestrated by the WWE.

What keeps p (and cc for that matter) so informed on wrestling is that their son, b, is 11 and loves little else more than seeing grown men throwing themselves at each other in a ring. Last year b's favorite performer was Rey Mysterio and apparently he's also a big fan of Jeff Hardy (take a second and click on that last link). Who can blame him? WWE storylines put soap operas like General Hospital to shame. I know, because my brother was an avid fan of old-school characters like Hulk Hogan, Randy "Macho Man" Savage, The Ultimate Warrior and many others I will not name lest I get branded as a fan myself.

So p has a facebook page, which he primarily uses to keep in touch with all his jetsetting intellectual pals from around the globe; I'm willing to bet they're not all as down to earth or as in touch with pop culture as p is. Unfortunately for him, he left his facebook account open one day and came back to a string of mocking messages from his colleagues: b had gone in, become a "fan" of Jeff Hardy and written "I LOVE YOU JEFF HARDY!" on the wrestler's facebook page. Except to Jeff Hardy and the rest of the facebook community, it looks like that message was posted by a 30-something philosophy professor.

When I have a lull in my day and think about how p must have reacted to this turn of events, it makes me snicker out loud. Thanks, b! But maybe it's not as funny to everyone else. I guess you had to be there.

5 comments:

  1. That's still fairly innocent, and funny.

    I have friends who have less mature friends who "facebook rape" (their horrible, gross words) their accounts and then proceed to write faux homosexual things. My friend Dan joined about 5 pro-gay groups and got his display pic NSFW-ed. And my friend A had his status update hijacked (better word) to involve a picture of Taylor Lautner (werewolf boy from Twilight), alone time and a cold shower. Not so funny. Boys will be (stupid) boys.

    PS: Jeff Hardy looks like Criss Angel!

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  2. Now I know how to explain all the weird Facebook things I've been seeing, like when someone becomes a fan of Pee Wee Herman. And here I thought it was a virus!

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  3. I was intending to say pretty much the same thing Syar did.

    Not only is p's situation more innocent, it's also a lot more funny. Those intellectual types could use something like this every once and a while!

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  4. I left my facebook unattended once. I'll never do that again.

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  5. I think this is a perfect example of why we need more 11 year olds around unattended facebook profiles. Well done b, well done.

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