We’ve all seen it — the three minute viral video of UCLA student Alexandra Wallace’s YouTube rant taunting Asian students at UCLA. She takes particular issue with Asian students using cell phones in the library to call relatives affected by the tsunami in Japan. The clip precipitated an outpouring of fury from Asians and non-Asians from UCLA and around the country, and Wallace became the target of excoriation and death threats. Wallace apologized to the UCLA community in a letter to The Daily Bruin and on Friday declared that she was withdrawing from UCLA even as university officials announced that she would not be disciplined.

Paly students and other social media users should pay particular attention to this fiasco, which serves as a cautionary tale for our generation about the potential dangers of social media use. Indeed, the speed with which the video went viral and tore apart Wallace’s life is a testament to the power of the internet — and the danger that it poses to those who use it carelessly.

We have no reason not to believe Wallace when she writes in her apology, “I would do anything to take back my insensitive words.” As she well knows, it’s too late. Even though she deleted her video soon after she made the mistake of posting it on YouTube, duplicate versions quickly appeared throughout cyberspace. It’s likely that years from now Wallace’s children will be able to see their tanktop-clad mother thoughtlessly spewing prejudicial comments about Asian people.

I don’t know Wallace personally. Chances are, like most human beings, she has good qualities as well as bad. It’s frightening that it is the worst of her that is now immortalized on the Internet. The world’s perception of Wallace — made indelible by social media — will forever be one of bigotry, insensitivity and ignorance.

Countless videos, Twitter posts and Facebook statuses make their way into cyberspace every second. Certainly, many contain distasteful or offensive viewpoints, some more so than those expressed in Wallace’s video. And yet, Wallace’s video went viral — maybe because people perceived the YouTube snapshot for the video to be racy, maybe because Wallace conforms to certain valley girl stereotypes, or maybe because of a perfect storm of timing, content and presentation. For Wallace, it doesn’t really matter why — what matters is that it was viewed by millions and brought her life crashing down.

What can our generation take away from Wallace’s debacle? We need to protect our online selves by using social media with care. All too often, it is our worst moments that can never be erased.