A recent event got me to thinking about this interconnected world of ours. A blogger I read daily and enjoy, who has a life experience similar to mine, got found out by a colleague. He debated stopping blogging all together. Fortunately for us all , he seems to be over that sentiment. He’s got too much to say and I for one, want to hear it.
His experience though is worth noting, however. I’ve also been amazed at how folks can take some random data and piece it together to come up with an anonymous person’s true identity. I’ve done it myself simply using the tools of my stat counter, Google and other search engines. I feel bound though by the unspoken, but hopefully enforced, code here in Bloggerville that says one must respect the privacy of others.
Yet, I wonder and I worry. Many of us have employers who can’t or won’t respect that rule and refuse to make the distinction between a person’s work life and private life. Rather, they will take someone’s idle rants and use the information to really hurt a person. Those same employers have a desire to mold everyone into a certain middle class persona and woe be unto you if you find that painfully confining. As I have noted before, the threat of reprisals is real. China is working hard to restrict access to information, one cannot get blogspot domains there. However that is China. The place I live in and the place I am from is supposed to be more enlightened than that. Recent events make me wonder…….
I started this as a way to have some fun and also channel some of my anger at the things I see around and just really do not like. I’ve found that in doing so, I’ve been able to look at things in different perspectives than I would have otherwise. Following links to others writings has been a real eye opener for me.
Big Brother is always out there though, lurking over my shoulder. I’m not going to stop blogging and I’m not going stop criticizing the institutional stupidity that is present in the military and in politics today. Nor am I going to give up boozing, golfing and all the other things that I like to do.
( I was going to add womanizing which I like to do, but then again you knew that already….). I do need to take special care to be careful how much I reveal about my “real” self I think. And I need to carefully write so as not to cross any legal lines.
With those two caveats however, Big Brother, you are going to remain squarely in my sights. Its either type or take up an Uzi and since I have an aversion to jail or worse, I’d rather just write.
If you are going to watch everything you say, one will get nothing said. I’ve got lots to say still and I hope you’ll stick around and read it. That includes you Mr. Rumsfeld. Have a nice day!
A rambling post! Chalk it up to it being early and no coffee yet. A stream of consciousness moment. Every once in a while I need that.
Better work tomorrow! I promise.
Skippy-san.
