Ruining Pictures For 125 Years

It seems like every website I go to nowadays also has a corresponding Facebook Fan page, where people can 'Like' the website or company. (You would think just going to the site was enough to show you liked it, but this mindset is probably why I don't have a Facebook page.) Anyway, because of this phenomenon most sites now also feature a box off to the side, showing the profile pictures of some of the people who have recently become fans via Facebook. It was through this and the various Twitter avatars I saw when clicking on what topics people were Tweeting about that I began to notice a very disturbing trend: people throwing up gang signs in photos, even though they are clearly not in a gang.

Now, I like the show "Gangland" as much as the next person and a marathon of it airing on Spike TV will bring my day to a halt, so I am aware that there are a lot more gangs in American than you may think. Still, I refuse to believe there are this many people in gangs. Not only is it statically impossible, but the vast majority of the people in these photos look like they work in accounting. I then thought perhaps the people were trying to be ironic or something, but there are just too many of them for everyone to be in on the joke and most people are trying very hard to look tough. My new theory was that the problem with people today is that we are so used to clicking away on our phones or tablets that, as a society, we simply have no idea what to do with our hands during pictures anymore, but still feel tremendous pressure to make every photo memorable, hence the gang signs. (As a person who has gotten much better in recent years about having his picture taken, I recommend simply shoving your hands in your pockets.)

This belief was working for me up until yesterday, when I saw this picture from Hauls of Shame (via Deadspin) which was part of a larger gallery of opening day photos throughout history:


It is from Red Sox Opening Day in 1886. Please note the gentleman in the left-hand corner of the back row, identified as Old Hoss Radbourn, who is flipping off the camera over his friend's shoulder. I know it seems like every groups shot today has somebody trying to be funny by either discretely flipping off the camera or throwing 'rabbit ears' onto the person standing next to them, but I wasn't even aware people gave the finger back then. Apparently, people not knowing what to do during pictures has been around as long as photography itself. This has led me to my newest theory: some people just don't like having their picture taken.