For the last two years or so every young person has been told by some older authority person of the “perils” of posting photographs of yourself on facebook doing fun unsavory things.

I personally call this idea as I see it. Bull.

27-year-old Favreau does something mildly funny.

Today in the news is the shocking, scandalous, horrific, unprofessional photo of future White House speechwriter, Jon Favreau (not to be confused with the dude who directed Swingers). Mr. Favreau published a photo of himself, with friends at a party as he jokingly touched a cardboard cutout of Hillary Clinton in an inappropriate manner. He touched a cardboard cutout. This would qualify to many, as a (albeit slightly adult) sight gag. Mildly humorous. Offensive? Only to my Sunday school teacher.

CNN posts this story - and I’m certain it is elsewhere - with a sense of shock and indignation as to suggest that it is somehow a bad thing that an incoming speech writer is : A. Sociable B. Maybe humorous. C. *gasp* a drinker.

Here’s the deal folks - just because there ARENT photos of you on facebook, drinking, enjoying friends, being amusing doesn’t mean ANYONE believes these things don’t happen. So why then is it so shocking to actually see a photo of someone enjoying life?

There are an ENDLESS supply of stories in this world that deserve coverage. A facebook photo, of a young man making a lame joke at a party is not news.

As to the advice given by many to remove all photos of this nature from the internet (especially when job searching) I say this: For every hiring manager, or job opening that will not hire you based on a photo of you drinking at a party, there will be another who respects the fact that their potential hire is multi dimensional. I would also encourage many of you out there (those of you who enjoy life) to consider if you’d even enjoy working for some job/company/person with such puritanical viewpoints on what you should do in your personal life.

As a small (very small) business owner myself, I get a decent amount of inquiries from people asking for work as an assistant, or a stylist, etc. The ones that get responses from me are the people who show me a personality. You have to assume for a lot of jobs that at least one other person out there can do what you do as well as you, or better. In the end I’m not looking to work side by side for hours with someone who is, frankly, boring. Admittedly it is harsh to make such a snap judgement about someone in a short email or telephone call but sometimes that’s all you get. At the end of a long workday, I want the person I’m working with to be someone I want to go grab a beer with.

To Hillary Clinton’s credit, here was her “people’s” official comment:

Sen. Clinton is pleased to learn of Jon’s obvious interest in the State Department, and is currently reviewing his application

And finally a picture of me (on right) making a “sincere face” with friends. To do this correctly one must relax the face, and then using a finger - apply pressure on your forehead just between your eyebrows while pulling up.