The Internet Phenomenon (and on and on...)

We aim to cover a wide variety of sports here at TMC, from the highest levels of professional competition to the lowest levels of amateurism. That said, we also like to keep abreast of the fallout that such coverage can bring.

By now, many of you are probably familiar with the picture on the right. The young lady's name is Allison Stokke, and this picture of her is from her high school pole-vaulting days in California. This picture, posted on a Cal message board, rocketed her to gradual Internet "stardom", even earning her a mention in Bill Simmons' writing.

Not surprisingly, Ms. Stokke is none too pleased with the unwanted publicity that her images (yes, there are more out there) have brought, as this Washington Post article illustrates.

While the unfortunate Ms. Stokke is hardly to blame for her "success" as a sports blog pin-up model, the article itself relies on the same drab "there's-a-predator-lurking-behind-every-blog" writing mood in its description of the broader Internet sports community. Granted, that's how the family feels about it (as evidenced by their comments in the article), and I can understand that. But the writer, in penning the article almost completely from the perspective of the girl and her family, does a disservice to his readership.

What is the genesis of these types of images making their way around the Internet? Certainly, the attractiveness of the individual has something to do with it...or does it? We tend to focus on the myriad of attractive female pictures circulating through the blogosphere, yet there are probably just as many pictures of hideously ugly and/or deformed individuals making the rounds. I would submit that, rather than beauty or ugliness, it is the fantastical elements that make the images go 'round.

I am sorry for Allison Stokke that she had her anonymity taken away, although her complaints (and those of her parents) don't deal with that at all. Rather, the complaints deal with the manner in which she has become an Internet phenomenon. Ms. Stokke complains that the off-color comments relating to her are demeaning, and that "nobody really sees me". Well, of course they don't --- but isn't that a good thing in this case? Let's be honest here --- the images we see on the Internet, particularly those of attractive individuals, aren't so much desensitized as they are depersonalized. Once a person's picture hits the public sphere, the picture becomes an image, and nothing more. Very little of what's written by Internet users about images they see on websites and blogs is personal in nature, unless the person included in the image has created some type of public persona. Without that, the comments that people make are no different than the comments one would make about images of random ugly people. There's no thought of the impact it might have on the person in the image, because that image is a detached group of pixels in the commenter's mind.

The writer of the linked article states the following: "...she has learned a distressing lesson in the unruly momentum of the Internet." Excuse me? What was the lesson, exactly? That items occasionally take on a life of their own on the Internet? That a small number of Internet users like to post lewd comments about images of attractive people who they've never met? Perhaps I'm being dense, but I don't see what the grand lesson in all of this is. Yes, the Internet is a different place. It does not operate in the same manner as the rest of the media...and in many ways, it doesn't operate in the same manner that "real life" operates. However, it is not a dangerous bogeyman, lurking in the stands with a digital camera and a laptop.

There is hope for Allison Stokke, however, and it is dealt from the same deck of cards that made her an Internet phenomenon. The "unruly momentum of the Internet" will, fortunately, cause her images to disappear from the Internet public's consciousness as quickly as they appeared. Already, her images have become a cliche on many sports blogs and other Internet sites, and they will soon be replaced with other images --- and those images are just as likely to be celebrities or professional athletes as anything. The unruly momentum of the Internet is highly variable, but it's also predictable in that the new replaces the old, in a near-constant turnover. And the fascinating thing about the medium is that one never can tell what the fallout will be. For every Allison Stokke, there's a Jenn Sterger who eats up the attention like candy (and turns it into several jobs).

By no means am I saying that Allison should've enjoyed the unwanted attention she received. I am, however, saying that attributing such attention to some massive character defect on the part of Internet users (and sports blog owners in particular) is wrongheaded and overly simplistic.