By: Marcia Love

You’ve got to wonder what people are thinking sometimes. At least I do when I see some of the illegal, dangerous or just plain stupid stunts people pull.
But apparently it’s not fun to pull senseless pranks anymore unless you can show the world.
That’s the logic I believe one young woman was using when she posted a video online last month of her tossing newborn puppies into a river.
The video sparked such worldwide controversy that a search began to discover the identity of the teenager. She was reported to have been found by Bosnian police last week, and now faces a fine of $6,900 to $16,000 for torturing and killing animals.
The first question most people would ask after seeing the video is why anyone would do something so cruel to an animal. The second question is why anyone would post it on the Internet for public viewing.
But judging by the amount of senseless videos and photos posted online, it seems like common sense has no place in the 21st Century.
Today’s technology has no doubt made the job of law enforcement officials a great deal easier – especially because of the large number of people knowingly allowing themselves to be photographed and videoed doing or saying something they thought was a brilliant idea at the time.
There will always be those people who can’t help but post proof of their unintelligent actions to brag about shoplifting, hunting out of season or crashing a party at the White House to meet the president of the United States.
Many people don’t realize the comments, information, photos and videos they post on the Internet can come back to haunt them even years down the road in the form of a loss of reputation or a lawsuit.
Back in the day, people could make stupid mistakes and not think twice about it. But now there is a generation whose slip-ups are exposed for anyone with a computer to see.
Teenagers will think they got away with telling their parents they spent the night watching movies at a friend’s house – that is, until a younger sibling sees photos posted online of them dancing at a nightclub with complete strangers.
The Internet is also one of the first tools potential employers use when looking to hire a new employee. Yes, they’re checking out your social networking profiles to see what kind of a person you are. They’re typing your name into that search engine to see what they can dig up on you.
If the first thing they see is a photo of you chugging a beer or a video of you smashing mailboxes, it doesn’t give a very good first impression.
I am lucky enough to only have one potentially incriminating video of me posted on the Internet. My friend was so kind as to record my unflattering rendition of a song while I belted it out during a car ride. Fortunately, it’s more likely to scar anyone foolish enough to watch it than it would my reputation.
There is a moral in all embarrassing or condemning material posted on the Internet.  If there is something to be learned from others’ mistakes, it’s to think before you act – or at least not to leave any evidence of idiocy.