The Speculist

When I was a kid, the potential audience for humiliation was much smaller. Today, any stupid thing you ever do can be viewed by millions.

Case in point:

The video shows a lone, overweight teenager fighting a mock battle with a broomstick lightsaber. In the two-minute video, the teenager twirls the broomstick ever more energetically while generating his own lightsaber sound effects. The video, which is obviously not for public consumption, is amusing and excruciating.

On the other hand, there is also a nice upside to automated mass humiliation. These guys have taken pity and are working to help our lightsaber artist out. I'm thinking I might send the kid a few bucks myself.

UPDATE: I didn't check the date when I stumbled upon the Wired story. Apparently this is a few years old (with your erstwhile reporter on top of things as usual.) Lots more details here. The kid dropped out of school due to the humiliation. The fund-raiser mentioned in Wired earned him a 30 GB iPod and $2600 cash.