Last week, the internet was blessed, as some say, with the Instagram story (available to view in its aftermath on Twitter) posted following a “meet-cute” incident on a plane headed to Texas.
The story began with a woman, Rosey Blair, asking to switch seats with the woman behind her (who remains anonymous), so Blair could sit with her husband. As a joke, Blair said the woman, who agreed to switch seats, might find her soulmate.
After the switch, however, Blair noticed that the woman and the man next to her were getting along quite well, so she began documenting their interactions on her Instagram story, which then went viral.
The story documented their whole flight, and although Blair did cross out their faces, she included pictures of their arms touching, details about if he ordered her a drink and information about their personal lives.
Initially, the response was overwhelmingly positive, as people tuned in from around the world to watch the story play out, but a few days later, the reality of the viral story seems to be kicking in.
Recently, some fans of the story found the woman’s social media, after the man of the story, Euan Holden — who has since been featured on “Today” and local news broadcasts — came forward with his side of the story and mentioned her name.
Blair also posted a follow-up video, explaining that the girl did not consent to her identity or story being shared. “So, we don’t have the gal’s permish yet. Not yet, ya’ll. But I’m sure you’ll — you guys are sneaky,” she said, implying that fans of the story would probably be able to find the woman without her consent, considering so many of her details were already public.
Just as Blair predicted, fans were able to find the woman’s social media almost instantly, commenting and harassing her on all accounts asking for details about the “relationship” and pleading with her to marry Holden. The woman has since deleted all her social media accounts.
After the woman was bullied into deleting her social media accounts, the response to the thrilling saga changed directions, shifting from devoted fans expressing their love for the new “romance” to dishing out complaints about the breach of privacy and overall discomfort of the situation.
People are now arguing that what happened was a major invasion of privacy, as well as just creepy. Onlookers have also picked up on how differently each half of the alleged new couple was treated in the situation, as the man became famous and was invited on talk shows, whereas the woman was harassed off social media. Totally equal.
Needless to say, what happened to the woman was a result of social media being used to completely breach someone’s privacy. Blair never received consent from her, but the woman was still unable to hide.
Social media allows such weird instances that would otherwise go unknown to become completely viral, oftentimes resulting in ruining someone’s life. So, despite the cliche, the plane incident is one good example of when you should really listen to your parents’ nagging when they say, “Be careful what you post online!”
