Beware of Video (USS Enterprise Edition)

The first thing that comes to mind upon viewing this story is:  if in the videos themselves one felt the need to issue a disclaimer about one’s superiors being unaware of the videos and their contents, then perhaps making the videos in the first place was unwise.

Via ABC News:  Navy to Investigate Carrier Captain’s Lewd Videos

Regardless of anything else, it strikes me as poor judgment to put something on video like this that always had the chance to become public, especially when they were shared in a semi-public environment to begin with.

Indeed, as the Rex Ryan situation from last month illustrated:  video has a way of making into the public domain.

And, ultimately, the potentially most damaging type of media is video.

FILED UNDER: Environment, US Politics, ,
Steven L. Taylor
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog). Follow Steven on Twitter

Comments

  1. Kenny says:

    If Spock did this Kirk would have sent him home. Of course if he does it in the reboot he’s going out of a pod launch. Even in the kinder, gentler Next Generation, Riker would be stripped of his pips.

  2. 🙂

  3. largebill says:

    Captain Honors is a good man and a leader respected by his sailors. However, this silliness reflects poorly on his judgment and will send him into retirement. This also reflects on the judgment of several others who should have put an end to this early on. It will be interesting to see if his disclaimer of CO & battle group commander being in the dark gives them cover.

  4. michael reynolds says:

    Jeez, they were having a little fun. Lighten up. So they weren’t funny — that’s not a crime. I think this just calls for an official warning to leave the comedy to the professionals.