Is the "Puppy Toss" video for real? Or is it a setup? Is there a rush to judgement?

As I would expect (hope?) the VAST majority of you all reading this would be, I was thoroughly appalled when I learned by way of the Bryant Park Project about the horrid "Puppy Toss" video. In this 17-second video, a solider appears to be throwing a puppy off a cliff. The soldier is referred to as "Motari" which has led to the subsequent potential identification of this soldier as a David Motari of Monroe, Washington.

This appalling video has of course spawned a feeding frenzy in the blogosphere and a strong stream of stories in the mainstream media. News reports indicate that Motari's family has been threatened and has had to disconnect their phone while local authorities in Monroe, WA, attempt to deal with the attention. Motari's page on social networking sites has apparently been filled with hateful messages (one assumes on "wall" types of message boards). The US Marine Corps has meanwhile condemned the behavior and indicated that they are investigating the issue.

But with the thousands of hate messages flying around the Internet, the techie in me who knows how easy it is to create this type of thing can't help but wonder:

Is the video real? And is the perpetrator really David Motari of Monroe, WA?

Right now the conclusion of the blogosphere seems to be that it is real and that it is this particular guy. But I would suggest there are at least four potential possibilities:

1. IT IS REAL AND IT IS MOTARI - If it is, in fact, real, than Mr. Motari and his colleagues certainly deserve some form of punishment. Motari also needs to do some serious groveling and apologizing to his family for all the stress he's putting them through!

2. IT IS REAL BUT IT IS *NOT* MOTARI - What if this is a setup? All that people are going on to identify the soldier as David Motari is a brief mention of "That was mean, Motari" by an off-screen voice (possibly the cameraman). What if it was someone else? What if it is a malicious setup? What if someone wanted to get back at this David Motari and set it up so that his name was mentioned? What if someone staged this to tarnish the reputation of the Marines?

3. IT IS A HOAX BUT STILL MOTARI - It could be fake. It could be not a real puppy. There are some analyzing the video saying that it's not real or was exchanged before the throw. If it was, though, David Motari, he certainly has some explaining to do to the USMC and also his own family.

4. IT IS A HOAX BY SOMEONE ELSE - It obviously could be a hoax by someone else. But why the hoax? Is someone trying to hype something? Again, is someone trying to damage the military's reputation?

My point again is this:

In an era of near instanteous access to some information, are we rushing to judgement?

The "cybervigilantism" of posting the guy's address and phone number... of harrassing his parents and family... of barraging his social networking pages... are they deserved?

What if it turns out to NOT be him but rather some other Motari?

Can the phone calls, hateful emails and hateful posts be taken back?

What happened to "innocent until proven guilty"?

Should we not all just step away from the keybards for a little bit and wait to see if in fact the authorities determine it was him?

What if it were YOU who were mistakenly identified as being in a video like this?

Technorati Tags: pr, military, puppy toss, motari, videos, reputation

Comments

[nephesh]

thanks for being objective. i've been following this situation for days, since it first blew up, and i've yet to see too many people being rational and logical about the whole thing.

what's most interesting to me is how the world is reacting to this. there was the initial outrage, which was to be expected of course, but in the days that have followed, there has been no cessation of it or any pause to consider that perhaps this situation is not what it seems. people have relentlessly stalked and harassed people they believe to be david motari's relatives. the result? absolutely nothing has been accomplished. their campaign against the whole family of a man that has been neither positively identified nor tried let alone convicted of any wrongdoing has resulted in the annoyance of people who didn't even do anything! imagine if all their energies were redirected into more constructive endeavors; all the parks in every metropolitan city in the world would be immaculately clean and we'd be curing cancer by tuesday.

but of course, mob mentality prevails, people are unable to step away from their own egos and emotions, and nothing of any value to anyone has been achieved.

whilst i'm not surprised, i'm no less disgusted.

[Al]

I guess the problem becomes that of late, "we're investigating" has been used as a means of settling things down. Bog down everything in a long investigation, and by that time the public will find something else to occupy their attentions. Not only that, but then the authorities can say "we have no comment. The matter is under investigation so we can't comment while this is being done". The public is tired of that, and, in the absence of swift action, the public makes up their own mind based on the information AT HAND.
I would gladly love to see the Marine Corp release information swiftly whether this was or wasn't the Motari in question. We live in a technological age, one where we can identify, in a matter of hours, whether the "voice on the tape" released on Al-Jazeera belongs to so and so. Why not take swift action to release the facts and put this matter to rest ethically?

The United States Marine Corp, as a body, is one of the most respected organizations in the world, and whatever people's opinions about the war in Iraq or Afghanistan, nobody denies that the Corp as a whole still retains its integrity. My plea is to the authorities to put this matter to rest swiftly one way or another, and not to do what the politicians do and have a lengthy investigation which will only serve to erode the public's faith in our institutions.

[guntherh]

While your commentary was quite lucid, and did convey valid logic RE: "cybervigilantism"; you nonetheless depart from much true understanding displayed in the line " In an era of near instanteous access to some information, are we rushing to judgement?" by questioning "what ever happened to innocent until proven guilty?"
The answer to this question is rather simple; "Seeing is believing".
We are now in an age whereby that which can be "evidenced" by videotape or other forms of electronic video-capture has defeated "due-process". Forever! Forever and ever.
That image can be doctored and fabricated is a sad truth known to those savvy or devious enough to desire to do so; for having this level of (what I'd politely called "savvy") manipulative intent, one also knows full well that concurrent with "seeing is believing" is the fact that most people will not be able (willing?) to begin to perceive if they're being misled, by whom, and for what ends.
This then is one of the sad commentaries of our great leap into ubiquitous technologization. It, and its pitfalls, and its repercussions, exceeds our capacity to accommodate with the same levels of due-process once thought to be of paramount importance.