How history might have been different. If Mark Zuckerberg had been arrested for posting ratings of female classmates on Facebook, where might he be now? Living in some hollow shame in Mountain View, rather than living it up in Palo Alto?
This question must be considered on hearing the news that a 17-year-old student at the Oak Park and River Forest High School in the Chicago suburbs was arrested for allegedly doing something that sounds rather Zuckerbergian.
The Chicago Tribune reports that the boy was arrested Monday and charged with disorderly conduct after he allegedly published on Facebook his rankings of female classmates.
There are those who find much of Facebook disorderly. However, the Chicago Sun-Times reported last month that the young gentleman had allegedly posted a comprehensive list, ranking 50 of his female classmates. It apparently included some rather predictable criteria.
There was allegedly a subjective bio of each girl, coupled with separate ratings for their faces and bodies and references to race, ethnicity, and alleged sexual behavior. There was also an indicator of whether their "stock" might be in the ascendancy or not. The vocabulary was not exemplary.
This, some might imagine, is precisely the content of conversations boys have with boys about girls. However, in this case, it was public, on Facebook, and accompanied by fliers that contained full details of the list.
Moreover, the Sun-Times reported that there exists a cell phone video in which the accused is seen at school addressing a crowd and proclaiming the philosophy: "Women are the future, unless we stop them now."
School officials told the Chicago Tribune that the student no longer attends their school. One wonders what his future might hold and whether, one day, he may become titan of tech. Or at least a programmer.