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The subject of privacy and blogging is one which I find rather interesting - interesting enough to write a trumped-up piece of shit grant proposal to SSHRC about, in fact. Whoops, did I just write that for real? Because now it's on the internet, and since my site is rather conspicuously and grandiosely linked to my actual, walky-talky Earth name (CLEMENSONLINE.COM!!!)... well, it might come back to bite me in the ass. Employers are starting to Google the names of interview candidates, and I would imagine tech-savvy academics might be doing the same.

This article summarizes the long-term horrors of contributing to the web's hive of idiocy - MySpace mistakes that won't go away, ever, due to infinite informational reproducibility. These three big words in a row spell Y'ALL BE FUCKED if you ever publicly posted pictures of yourself doing lines of coke off a pretty pony's curves. The author claims that the damage is irreversible. It may very well be that you'll never be able to wipe your online slate clean.

To this I say "grarrrrh", or maybe even "sweet!" Finally, fuck this business of having one personality online and another, faker, personality in the working world. There is a dramatic incongruency in the way most people speak, act and are professionally, compared to their casual conduct. Which one is the real you - the suit or the sluuute (rhymes with flute)?

Is managing a split personality honest? Is it damaging? Does it make you better at ping pong, or eating candles? I don't know, but perhaps the spilling out of lives into digital territory can help bring our social faces more into alignment. If nothing else, it suggests a degree of consistency. I'd like to see that.

Maybe once everyone in the world is e-sullied in at least one respect, we can go about acknowledging that we all have a few flaws, that we're pockmarked in interesting ways. People might not get crucified every time a minor indiscretion is 'unearthed' by bloodthirsty moralistic rivals. For those who are unduly careful... well, perhaps The Internet (capitalized, like God) may see fit to slander and pillage their pristine images in order to put everyone on a level playing field. Give it ten years or so and we'll see how Facebook has revolutionized mudslinging.

Of course, I am banking - praying - that The Internet will humanize and forgive us all because I have a pound of 'stage marijuana' linked to my name. But seriously! At least I'm up front with you, internet superhighway. At least I'm all here. And you can take it or leave it.

Posted by Chris at 11:49 PM >> Commentations (0)