Claim: It is no longer possible for a society to regard any living man or woman as a hero. Reason: The reputation of anyone who is subjected to media scrutiny will eventually be diminished.

When living in the digital era, social media pervasively brings extra exposure of our present lives and disclosure to our past. Some people can’t help but begins to state individuals, whom society regards as heroes, lose their validity due to the diminishing reputation brought by social media scrutiny. However, the validity of any individual to be regarded as a society’s hero when it comes to social media scrutiny is heavily dependent on the part an individual plays within the context of the society. Celebrities who work in the entertaining industries and politicians would face the diminishing reputation by social media scrutiny in terms of scandals and shady and contentious political strategies. While at the same time, scientists, on the contrary, could build up their reputation and expand the knowledge to the population through social media scrutiny.

Celebrities who work in the entertaining industries are much more dependent on the power of social media to expand their audience, but at the same time, the exposure of personal life has the potential to diminish their reputation by being scrutinized by social media.
Nowadays, the majority of celebrities are imbued with wealth at a very young age, fame and wealth bring them to temptations that easily lead to scandals. For instance, Justin Bieber debuted with catchy songs that brought him fame and wealth, as well as being regarded by young generations as a role model for his positive image. While being extolled by the young population, the exposure of him to being tempted to drug abuse and drinking problems, which scandalized him and gradually his reputation ebbed away. Thus, as the example illustrates, celebrities accumulate wealth rapidly and face scandal-leading temptations, and therefore are more at risk of reduced reputation due to massive exposure by social media.

Despite in the entertaining industries where celebrities are targeted by exposure, social media has been playing a role in the political arena in the past and continues to play an essential part in decreasing politicians’ reputation in the present time. The extra exposure by social media of governmental and official’s shady operations by social media provides the public information besides the positive image the politicians have been building and propagating. This negative revelation, like the whistleblower’s disclosed documents of President Donald Trump, coerced Ukraine to investigate his political rival by intentionally holding the aid to Ukraine, indeed, imperils his reputation. The negativity brought by the examination of social media inevitably belittles a politician’s reputation.

However convenient this claim and reason may be, the invalidity of an individual being regarded as a hero due to diminishing reputation brought by social media scrutiny doesn’t hold true when it comes to scientists. The digital era permits the building of a scientist’s reputation to be a role model and the expansion of the knowledge to the broader population. People used to acquaint themselves with knowledge through textbooks and traditional media like newspapers, which provide little access for extensive knowledge, let alone close association with scientists and scholars. With the help of being scrutinized by social media in this day and age, scientists, like the 2019 Nobel laureates in physics with their research and efforts on lithium rechargeable batteries, are drawn closer to the public, and thus made more influential. With that being said, social media doesn’t always create negative incentives as reputation downgrading concerning the enhancement of scientist’s positive role in society and how more knowledge can be brought to the public.

To conclude, the pessimistic view of individuals losing the legitimacy to be perceived as heroes with a diminishing reputation in respect of more publicity created by social media is conditional on the roles individuals play in society. For celebrities in entertainment industries as well as politicians, their reputation perishes when connected to revealed scandals and shady operations. Scientists, on the contrary, are likely to build up their reputation and have more knowledge to reach the public easier by the exposure of social media.