Teen Takes Heat for Ill-Conceived Selfie at Concentration Camp

[Cali_Democrat]

by Josh Feldman | 6:57 pm, July 21st, 2014

Selfies are really getting out of hand, for alas, it was naïve to think the funeral selfie was the lowest we could go. This weekend Breanna Mitchell took what is, very arguably, the worst selfie of all-time.

The original tweet has been taken down (and as of this posting, her account has been marked private), and based on the selfie in question, it’s not hard to imagine why.




Read more:

http://www.mediaite.com/online/teen-takes-heat-for-ill-conceived-selfie-at-concentration-camp/

[greatauntoftriplets]

1. When I was her age...

I was still pissed that I was too young to have been a freedom rider. "Ill-conceived" is putting it politely.

[jberryhill]

2. Meh

A. She's a kid

B. Is she on one of those high-school student European package tours? If so, the odds of her even knowing where she is, let alone its significance, are in inverse proportion to the time they were allotted between being told to get off the bus and being told to get back on the bus.

And, by golly, nothing broadens the mind like those tours. Countless American students each year learning how to say, "What's the legal drinking age here?" in as many as five languages!

So the idea here is that she merited endless hatred, abuse and threats by strangers and, if she lives through it, will be forever scarred as "that girl who did that thing"?

[tammywammy]

49. I read yesterday on Gawker

She and her father studied Auschwitz together and had always planned on going. Her father died and she thought he would be happy that she made it there.

[Hekate]

96. Thanks for that. I noticed right off that despite her smile, her face is very very strained. nt

[Fla Dem]

101. You know, that was my first thought. She saw this as a historical memorial and wanted

to capture her being there. But then, I'm a bit of an optimist and try to see the good in people. I wonder if someone else took the picture of her standing there, if there would have been a negative reaction. Is it because it was a selfie? Because she was smiling? The smilie icon was not appropriate, but otherwise, much ado about nothing.

[TM99]

54. No, she is a self-absorbed kid. There is a difference.

In the mid 1980's, I and 49 other American exchange students to West Germany boarded a bus to visit Bergen-Belsen during our year abroad. On the bus ride, yeah, we were teenagers. We laughed, made stupid & inappropriate sexual jokes, and listened to Tears for Fears. Then we arrived.

Once outside, we all realized the significance of where we were. The hills along the path we were now walking down were not hills, they were mass graves with tens of thousands of bodies buried therein. There was little life in this place, only an occasional bird or stray flower. By the time we reached the memorial wall, there was not a single one of us acting like self-absorbed teenagers. Most of us were in tears, and the rest were silent and deep in thought.

No she doesn't merit 'hatred' or 'abuse'. She is emblematic of a generation that, due to commercialization of advanced technology, have become detached from reality and lost in their own little cyber worlds. Taking a 'selfie' at a concentration camp is as bad as the young woman last year who took silly photos at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. There is a lack of empathy. There is a general lack of knowledge of history and the horrors that reside in places like concentration camp memorials and the like.

Did we take photos at Bergen-Belsen? Sure, but not group photos of a bunch of teens laughing and/or giving the finger. We took photos of the actual place. I have 30 year old photos reminding me of what I saw and experienced there. I and many other teens at the time experienced this and will never forget it. That is a huge difference to what this young woman, and I am sure countless others her age, have and will do at places like Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen.

[jberryhill]

56. I don't pretend to judge someone's character from a snapshot

[TM99]

62. Well, take the facts as they stand then and see what conclusion you might

draw from them.

"Princess Breanna" goes to Auschwitz. She takes a photo. OK, a photo is no big deal, right? Context is everything. She posts said selfie on her Twitter profile with the title "Selfie at Auschwitz Concentration Camp" followed by a smilie emoticon.

Yup, nothing self-absorbed and inappropriate there.

[jberryhill]

66. The "facts as they stand" tell me more about you

Sorry, but you cannot judge a person - and in this context standing in judgment of someone at that age is silly - from a photograph.

"Mitchell later revealed she took the picture after studying the Holocaust with her father, who died last year."

So, apparently, it was a subject she studied with her recently-dead father who obviously didn't get to accompany her on this trip. As something she shared with this departed parent, I can completely understand her sense of satisfaction and connection to her departed parent, and why that would make her smile.

My father was among the liberators of the Ohrdruff camp with the 89th Division, and I hope I get to take a smiling selfie there someday myself.

These places were liberated and that war was ended so that the smiles of teenagers could be seen again.

[TM99]

70. It was still very inappropriate, especially

the sharing of it on Twitter. The incessant need that has been produced with social media that her generation and so many others feel that such things should be shared with everyone is what is bothersome. It saddens me that you can not even recognize that. Ah well.

Having visiting several of them during my time in Germany, please don't be surprised if what you feel visiting them is far from happiness and the urge to smile for a 'selfie'.

[Saboburns]

103. I'm with you JBerryhill on this

Reading these opinion pieces regarding a snapshot and how an entire profile is derived, well, it sure does say much about the opiner, doesn't it.

[CTyankee]

78. my granddaughter is 18 years old and entering college in September...

she, her mother and I are going to Spain next year and I have already specifically told her that she'll be permitted to drink wine there and American kids who go to Europe to get drunk just makes them look obnoxious and stupid to Europeans...including those of her own age. I told her "I don't want you to look like a stupid American..."

[treestar]

102. This made me wonder if it's OK to take photos while there at all

The selfie indicates you were there to the viewer.

Though it might be in bad taste to smile in the selfie. That's a serious place.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

3. Teen does something stupid.

I'm outraged.

[Kber]

6. Well put.

[JI7]

16. i would have never done this as a teenager or even younger

knowing about the holocaust.

there are many stupid things teenagers do but in some cases it's not a good excuse.

i could even understand if it was in front of some statue or memorial of some hero from then.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

18. So what are you going to do about it?

?

[JI7]

19. why do i need to do anything about it ?

[ForgoTheConsequence]

21. Why wouldn't you?

Obviously it's upset you. Stand up for what you believe in, teach this clueless teenager a lesson!

[JI7]

23. many things upset me and turn me off, i don't feel it means i have to do anything

other than express how i feel if someone mentions it.

[liberal N proud]

28. No one took selfies then

[JI7]

31. but we did take pics and i wouldn't have taken pics like that and many teens i know

would never do this also and recognize the significance of certain places .

[gollygee]

30. Do you think

this might be a generational thing? I would never have done that as a teenager, and I can't imagine anyone I knew at that age doing it, but this is a generation removed from me. Maybe one generation more since the Holocaust has made people not feel the same or understand it?

[JI7]

34. not sure but there are older people who do stupid shit like this also

but most kids DO understand the holocaust and get what a horrible thing it was so i don't think it has to do with the times either.

i think there have always been certain types of people. these days we just get it recorded more.

the police are a good example of this. all the bad cops we see these days is nothing new but we are just able to catch them on tape more.

[jeff47]

52. Done what, exactly?

What, specifically, is so horrible about taking a picture? That she smiled? After going to a place she and her now deceased father spent a lot of time researching and talking about.

My god, the horror of daring to smile.

[Iggo]

58. Yep, it's the smile.

Made me a little uncomfortable, too...for about a second.

Then my brain engaged.

[JI7]

88. that it was at a concentration camp, not something i would have done

i didn't say it was horrific

[jeff47]

89. Yet you can't quite manage to specify what was bad. (nt)

[JI7]

91. the whole selfie thing at that place like that

i just find it distasteful .

[jeff47]

92. Because..............

Because..............?

A selfie is more offensive than a "normal" picture because...........

[JI7]

93. depends on the pic

[mahatmakanejeeves]

51. Me, I'm thankful there was no Internet when I was that age.

If there had been, ... yikes.

[Takket]

4. i'm not so much offended by the photo as i am the blushing smilie at the end of the tweet

[NightWatcher]

5. at least she's not goofing, making a silly face, or acting like a horse's ass

Ill-advised, sure, but I don't think it's outrage worthy.

[Saboburns]

7. Worst selfie of all time?!?

Come on. Get a grip. She happened to smile at a concentration camp.

[countingbluecars]

8. Probably just clueless

with no ill intent.

[HubertHeaver]

9. I don't think this is a big deal.

I think I and my two sons probably smiled when we visited Dachau though I doubt very much if my father did when he visited there in March, '45.

[Jenoch]

10. I don't understand how even a teen

could be so clueless. I was at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington anational Cemetery when I was about her age. It would not habe occurred to me to crack a emile in such a revered and solemn location.

[DreamGypsy]

11. Like it or not, people, Auschwitz-Birkenau is a tourist attraction...

...where people probably think they can act like tourists if they so choose. From the website, Already One Million Visitors (emphasis mine):

A million people have visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum between January and the early days of September 2011. A record number of 1,400,000 people visited the grounds of the former German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp Auschwitz during the whole of 2010. There are many indications that the record will be broken this year. The Auschwitz Memorial has the highest visitor numbers of any Museum in Poland.

Visitors are shown the grounds and buildings of the former camp by 270 guides who receive special informational and linguistic training. “We ensure professional service to each and every person who comes here,” said Andrzej Kacorzyk, head of the Visitor Service Section. “We try to reach the visitors in their native languages. Therefore we have a rise in the numbers of guides who speak even the less common languages. At present we offer a choice of twenty languages.”

The steady rise in interest and increase in the number of people who want to learn about the history of the camp is an exceptionally positive development. “The greatest numbers of people visit the Museum during the vacation months. In August there were almost 200,000. They were mainly individual visitors, families, or smaller organized groups. School and youth groups predominate in the other months,” said Kacorzyk.

Just a few years ago, the site of the camp had about half a million visitors per year, a figure that has now nearly tripled. For this reason, the Museum is engaged in an intense effort to create a modern visitor service center. It will be built on a site of more than three hectares adjacent to the Memorial, providing the infrastructure and parking essential to meet the needs of the ever increasing numbers of people who come to the Auschwitz Museum each year.

At the book shop, along various books of various kinds, you can buy postcards, posters, and informative CDs and DVDs.



Here's an article about selfies at the 911 memorial. There's a tumblr called Selfies at Serious Places that pretty much glorifies the behavior.

Is all of this tacky? Yeah. But it's apparently part of the internet culture.

[JI7]

25. many places are tourist attractions, often because of something that took place

there . in new york there is the 9/11 memorial which is a tourist attraction.

but i know i wouldn't behave the same way there as i would in times square.

[Hekate]

99. My husband's cousin, in his 80s now, leads tours there because as he says, the younger generation...

...needs to be taught what happened. I wonder if the gift shop (who knew, but it makes sense) carries his book that he wrote in Polish called "I Survived..." As soon after the war as he could he moved to Israel, but now in his very old age he's back living in Poland so he can do this work.

I look at the girl's face in her selfie, and I could see instantly that her smile is very much at odds with the rest of her face. Then I find out she's there because she and her deceased father had studied the Holocaust together. I want to hug her, not condemn her.

There are days I really despise social media.

[DreamGypsy]

100. There are two candidate book titles in the Auschwitz-Birkenau catelog...

...listed under Memoirs, Journals, and Verse:

o Krystyna Żywulska. I survived Auschwitz (author is female)

o Tadeusz Sobolewicz. But I survived

Thanks, Hecate, for adding the note about the young woman having studied the Holocaust with her father. That fact adds a lot to her story.

[Ken Burch]

12. She's young enough to learn from this.

I wouldn't demonize her...she(and most of her generation) mainly need to be educated.

Perhaps this is a teachable moment.

[Ken Burch]

13. Worst case scenario: Elle Fanning plays her in the movie.

(Was gonna say Hayden Panettiere, but Hayden's probably aged out of the role).

[Kaleva]

14. The smilely face could have been left out.

[Earth_First]

15. This was a far more outrageous photograph:

[Hippo_Tron]

17. I mean for fuck's sake, he could afford a black coat

[Saboburns]

35. He borrowed a coat for that. It had the word STAFF written in big gold letters on the breast

Think about that for a minute. VP of America goes to a Nazi extermination camp and wears a coat that screams STAFF.

I'm not good at hating, except for Dick Cheney.

Him I hate.

[dembotoz]

47. he wore the staff coat because being on staff at a concentration camp was on his bucket list

shoot someone in the face---check
invade a country--check
work at a concentration camp--check
commit war crimes--check

[lumberjack_jeff]

73. +1 n/t

[RadiationTherapy]

20. A selfie can often be a means of documenting one's authentic presence in a place.

[HooptieWagon]

22. Meh.

Why not recognize the fact that she VISITED Auschwitz, and someday will probably understand its significance?

As an aside, a musician friend did a western tour last year, that she hilariously documented on fb. Among other adventures, she stopped for a smoke outside Portland, saw a tree go up in flames across the road, and put out the fire by herself. Anyway, she took lots of selfies at notable locations, often photo-bombed. Funniest was a moose sticking its head in front of the camera at Yellowstone Park, completely blocking her face.

[JI7]

24. why is it difficult to understand now ? i knew even before i was a teen

[HooptieWagon]

26. Good for you.

I guess not every teen is as magnificent as you were.

[JI7]

27. it doesn't take being magnificent to recognize how horrible the holocaust was

[HooptieWagon]

33. Maybe she didn't pay attention in class.

Or maybe it wasn't taught. She may not have heard of it before walking in the gate. Who knows? How many tourists do you suppose took a selfie at the site of the WTC? Gonna be outraged by that? There's plenty of legitimate reasons to be outraged in the world, we don't have to go nit-picking to find one. And the selfie-outrage in OP is pretty much scraping the bottom of the barrell.

[JI7]

37. you seem more outraged at my response than my reaction to what was in the OP

[HooptieWagon]

40. Whatever.

Maybe you can go find a teen with low-riding pants, purple spiked hair, and piercings to be outraged about. That would probably please them.

[JI7]

41. you still sound outraged over someone on the internet saying they didn't like something

[HooptieWagon]

42. Meh. Whatever.

[Saboburns]

39. Mebbe she realizes all about the horribleness of the holocaust

But smiled at something else.

I'm pretty sure I smiled a few times in a three day walk around Gettysburg battlefield.

Didn't mean I wasn't reverent though.

[Tetris_Iguana]

29. They don't need to be magnificent

just semi-intelligent and not totally self-absorbed.

But I guess they all can't be winners.

[WolverineDG]

32. Ok, I don't get the outrage

are people running out of things to get pissed off about?

People take pictures of themselves in all kinds of places--the Tower of London, the Vietnam Wall Memorial, Normandy Beaches & cemeteries.

Perhaps if she'd added something somber about the location instead of a smilie face, but sorry, I'm not getting the outrage over a tourist who takes a picture of themselves at what has become a tourist attraction.

[HooptieWagon]

36. Yep.

Some people just aren't happy unless they're outraged, and desparately seek something out to be putraged about. In this case, they're scraping the bottom of the barrell.

[JI7]

38. you are the one who sounds outraged about something in this thread

[Logical]

69. You seem to need to tell everyone how much better you were as a teenager! nt

[liberal N proud]

44. Hammer meets nail

[DrDan]

45. agree - really don't understand the outrage - a teen taking a pic at a tourist spot

[alp227]

80. Not a mere tourist spot - A MEMORIAL FOR VICTIMS OF GENOCIDE. Sheesh. nt

[DrDan]

94. did I say "mere tourist spot"? don't believe so

do you deny it is a place where tourists frequent?

I have visited Dachau twice . . . and consider it a tourist spot also

gift shops, for heavens sake . . .

sheesh . . . (I guess the outrage has been preserved, however)

[Xyzse]

60. This is where I'm at.

I just don't understand it.

[Nye Bevan]

43. I feel bad for today's teenagers.

Back in my day, teens still did things that were ignorant and insensitive. They just weren't put on display for the whole world to see.

[KittyWampus]

46. She put HERSELF on display, though. Which is a dynamic that escapes me.

[HooptieWagon]

50. On display to her facebook friends.

Somebody else posted it on the internet to disparage her and subject her to ridicule and outrage.

[jberryhill]

55. No more calls, please. We have a winner

You are correct.

[KittyWampus]

63. "disparage her & subject her to ridicule/outrage"? Like throwing a mistaken map I posted on DU

last year into my face constantly? The DU'ers who STILL do that aren't just teasing in a friendly manner. Someone did it again just last night. I put up with the taunting for quite a while before I started responding in kind. But I know who the bullies are….

In this day and age, when you post stuff on Facebook you are posting it to all.
Unless you have the highest privacy settings and only a very few "Friends" whom you've carefully selected for inclusion.

And a younger person should know this.

I personally think she just posted a pix where she was smiling and it's not an issue. At all.

But when you post something on such a large forum, you are essentially throwing chum in the water.

Part of growing up is understanding when some things may offend others sensibilities (like her pix) & knowing when to keep things to yourself.

We all make mistakes or mistakenly offend.

[HooptieWagon]

79. There's a big difference.

You mistakenly posted an erroneous map on DU. Rather than admit your mistake, you vigorously defended it. Naturally, you were ridiculed on DU, but that was limited to DU. Nobody posted your map to the internet at large and invited the general public to pile on, as happened in this case.

[dembotoz]

48. i am like a trained seal--bring out a camera, i smile.

60+ years of smile for the camera has paid off.

[unblock]

53. my mother is a holocaust survivor. i lost family to auschwitz.

the picture does not bother me in the slightest.

i'm glad she went.

[hunter]

57. I have dozens of photos of myself wearing inappropriate expressions for the situation...

...and videos of myself saying inappropriate things.

Maybe I ought to delete them?

Nah. It's representative of my not-always-charming-or-appropriate Aspergers reality.

It's the supposedly "normal" Holocaust deniers, racists, misogynists, and assholes who will snicker and tell a homeless guy to "Get a job!" we ought to be disgusted by.

[Iggo]

59. Cute kid.

Probably shouldn't've smiled for that one.

I'm not outraged.

Sorry.

[Harmony Blue]

61. The outrage police

needs to STFU.

The young woman did nothing wrong.

[NCTraveler]

64. What has she done wrong?

WTF is wrong with people needing to attack others in this manner. Maybe they are pissed she has the ability to travel and see historical sites in person. I had some laughs at the Dealey Plaza. Shoot me.

[jberryhill]

67. I was in Dallas last year...

...and I asked the doorman how to get to Dealey Plaza from the Omni Hotel.

He waved his had down the street and said, "Just go back and to the left."

[NCTraveler]

68. Wow. Not sure what to think about that.

A little chuckle maybe. Things are situational in life. While at the plaza with family we had a good time. Including laughs. When we went into the museum it was more serious. Not necessarily because that is how I wanted it, but because of the situation. People were crying in there and had every right to cry. They also had every right to expect me to be considerate. This young woman doesn't appear to be taking the selfie in the middle of a group of people. I truly don't see one thing wrong with it. That is coming from someone who often tailors their behavior to the situation.

[tammywammy]

72. That's funny.

I would have laughed.

[alp227]

81. Not taking the Holocaust seriously. nt

[NCTraveler]

82. How do you know she doesn't take it seriously?

This photo shows that in no way.

[alp227]

83. CAN IT NOT BE ANY MORE OBVIOUS?

In her facial expression and her emoticon? I can't believe how tone deaf so many are in this thread!

[NCTraveler]

84. You can't be serious.

What would you do if I showed you a picture of Obama smiling at the site of 9/11.

You made that determination from an emoticon and her facial expression? I really don't think you are being serious.

Edit: Read your responses again and it is clearly sarcasm. Normally my sarcasm detector goes off. Too many here say similar things to what you did and it is not sarcasm. Muddy's the waters of sarcasm when it get a little to close to the reality of some.

[alp227]

85. Prove me wrong. Prove me wrong. PROVE ME WRONG.

I would NEVER make an online post like "Princess Breanna" did. Ever.

I have enough confidence in Obama, that seeing a theoretical photo like you say won't be bothersome because Obama isn't some stupid, clueless teenager.

[NCTraveler]

86. Edited my response above.

This one had me laughing. You had me going. Good job.

[Puzzledtraveller]

65. Internet Lynch Mobs

Gotta love em.

There is nothing wrong with this picture. The outrage over things like this illustrate just how juvenile we have become.

[Logical]

77. +1000! Nt

[Logical]

71. The people outraged over this worries me more than this girl does! nt

[cbdo2007]

74. Yep. Aren't you glad everything you've ever done isn't up for judging by all the idiots on the

interwebs?? haha

People are nuts....not this girl who is experiencing more culture than 99% of the people lambasting her....but everyone else who takes an immature comment and blows up technology with how self righteous they are!

[Logical]

76. So true, you nailed it! nt

[KamaAina]

75. "Princess Breanna".

'Nuf ced.

[Blue_Adept]

87. Gotta love all the holier than though judgments here

How to win friends and influence people indeed.

Is it any wonder that more kids are coming up that are less interested in the existing parties because of this kind of performance? Seriously guys, look at yourselves in the mirror.

The young woman made it to a place that was important and important to her and her father, took a picture of it and shared it. There's actually some context here upthread about why she was there in relation to her father.

And are we no longer allowed to smile at places with a tragic history? Isn't part of the tragedy to be able to move past it?

I took my kids to the Vietnam memorial wall in DC and they both stood by a particular spot, smiled brightly, and I took a picture of it.

They got to stand near the name of a relative that had died and had that moment of connectedness with someone they had never met but had heard stories about.

But if that picture made it out to the wider internet, we'd have the same clueless kid stories, eyerolling over user names and more.

Ya'll are doing a disservice to yourselves and to the younger generation. Realize that some of you are turning into those cranky old men you complain about when you say "selfie" with derision, proving further out of touch.

[Xyzse]

90. Agreed, which is why I can't seem to understand what the big deal was with this picture.

I just don't...

[Blue_Adept]

95. Outrage du jour

That's pretty much it. There's going to be a really interesting generation divide that comes up with the internet generation and those before it.

[DemocraticWing]

97. The only baffling thing here...

Are the people assuming that she is dumb and/or this is emblematic of some sort of generational stupidity. She took a picture that it turns out people don't like, but mistakes happen to all kinds of people. More importantly, few of you were that special when you were teenagers and plenty of people in my generation are as smart or even smarter than people who use this as just another chance to bitch about the whippersnappers on their lawn.

[bigwillq]

98. Some folks just really need to worry about more important things

Although I would probably not take a selfie there, I really have no issue with this person doing so.

[cwydro]

104. Dang

That is an old looking teen.

just sayin'

And I read the link. Horrid that she is happy that she is "famous."

But seriously...what teen looks that old? Eek. (and I am old so I can speak of this ha)

[minivan2]

105. I'm not a part of this generation any more.

I'm glad that I'm hanging out with people in their 40s.

[elaristotle]

106. She probably thought Auschwitz is where they kept the Latino children

She probably thought Auschwitz was where they used to keep the Latino children. That is, when they weren't busing them around or pointing their guns at them. I would hate to hear her recommendation on the final solution to immigration problems.

This reminds me of a girl who heard about the Polish Solidarity leaders being imprisoned and asked her UCLA professor why the Solidarity leaders didn't just leave Poland and come to California. Those who are ignorant of history are powerless to do any good.

[chrisa]

107. Someone took a vacation photo. I'm OUTRAGED!

Her life obviously must be ruined now. It's not like anyone ever takes pictures while on vacation!

[malaise]

108. Meanwhile persons sitting on deck cheers celebrating the

slaughter in Gaza face very little criticism.
War criminal Bibi faces no criticism.
The Israeli army destroying people's lives, homes and community face no criticism.
Spare me folks, spare me.