To selfie or not to selfie

On Sunday, I watched the match live (what am I saying, match, The Derby) between Lazio and AS Roma. Football. The fire was burning, I was allowed a glass of wine, and my beloved is just incredibly happy about this. Moreover, the Italian players are not exactly unpleasant to watch. Until Francesco Totti got it in his bronzed little head.

What did he do? After his second goal (okay, okay, it was the equalizer during the most exciting match of the year), he walked up to someone (I believe it was their physiotherapist or something), grabbed his phone, and took a selfie with a steaming crowd of fans in the background. And he took his time for it. Hair was smoothed down, lips were puckered. Take a selfie, post it, and back to the match.

This led to quite a bit of criticism. Among others from the coach of the opponent, but still. It got me thinking about the question; when does taking selfies suddenly become inappropriate?

Well, I have a few more.

Let's start with the Auschwitz selfies. No joke. Young girls posing with duck faces under the Arbeit Macht Frei gate with #Poland and #Jewish. Below that, a comment from a boy saying: OMG beauties! Oh boys, where do I even begin to explain that this is not okay?

Then the accident selfies. Imagine you're driving on the A9, three cars have crashed into each other, fire brigade, police, ambulance, everyone is rushing out. You're stopped, have nothing better to do, and think: oh, I'll just take an accident selfie.

This also happens with other disasters. I'm still waiting for the first fire-at-Wezep selfie with the burning ships in the background. Anything disastrous is bad. Let's assume that. And selfies at something bad = not appropriate.

If you've ever gone off the rails selfie-wise, I forgive you. You're in good company. The most inappropriate selfie ever was that of Obama during Nelson Mandela's funeral. But from now on, don't do it anymore, okay? Promised?