You are on camera. 

There is a good chance that anything you say or do in a public place will be captured on video. 

So, watch what you say. 

Racist rants, calling police to make false reports, people just acting out in inappropriate ways, using expletives and slurs are things that have always happened. 

Why are we hearing about it more? 

Why are more and more people, including government officials, celebrities, professionals and the CEOs of companies, issuing public apologies for their racist rants? 

Why are these things making headlines and television news reports? 

Why does it seem like on an almost daily basis we read about another incident where people threaten, curse, name call and treat others with disrespect, sometimes in illegal and life-threatening ways? 

Even more importantly, why are we seeing more bad interactions between the authorities and people of color? 

In this racially charged time of divisiveness and hatred there are likely more incidents occurring. 

But that does not mean, by any means, that this is some new phenomenon — not by a long shot. 

Of course the difference between now and the 1960s is that everyone has a smartphone, and the public generally understands the right to record in public spaces. 

Another major difference is social media

Not only is bad behavior likely to be recorded, but in an instant it can be viewed by tens of thousands of people on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook or a host of other platforms and websites. 

It is smart to not say or do anything you would not want your grandmother to witness. 

You would think that since so many videos of bad, and illegal, behavior have gone viral that all of us would be more circumspect. 

We are all under scrutiny. 

We are all being watched. 

We can all be captured on video at just about any time. 

Why are we not learning the lesson? 

Why do these incidents keep surfacing? 

The answer to that question is obvious, the videos keep surfacing because the bad behavior keeps happening. 

Maybe these things are not happening any more than they always have, but now there is a permanent record.

Video or no video,  bad behavior is bad behavior whether it is recorded or not. 

None of us should improve our behavior, watch our words and conduct ourselves in respectful ways because of the danger of being videotaped. 

We should all be better people, respectful of others — all others — simply, merely and only because it is the right thing to do.