Dignity And Privacy
I don’t want to be old-man-telling-you-to-get-off-his-lawn but I think I need to have a Grandpa Simpson moment here.
I have been somewhat upset with the semi-recent trend devaluing dignity and privacy in popular culture of late.
So we don’t get bogged down in details let’s say since the new millennium began for the purposes of this discussion.
It’s like the only privacy people respect any more is your credit card number, that we all agree should be kept confidential but when it comes to just about anything else it seems the lowest common denominator won the war when we weren’t looking.
Personally I think reality TV shoulders some of the blame here. No one short of The Enquirer has made airing out your dirty laundry in as public a venue as possible as popular as reality TV. I hate reality TV and avoid it every which way I can and I STILL know Vern Troyer is a nasty drunk. I don’t care. That’s none of my business. I would love to forget that little bit of trivia. Reality TV has turned public scandal into an industry. Look at that Balloon Boy or Bubble Boy or whatever they’re calling him – his mom went on Wife Swap and now the family thinks crying and vomiting on national TV will make them rich.
It’s a cancer.
People post on Facebook when they’re horny or tweet about the specific symptoms of their most recent menstrual cycle. Don’t blame the internet, it’s just a medium. If we didn’t have crap like that forced down our throats on reality TV we’d be less inclined to share the most private of personal details online.
When did dignity become so devalued? Take a moment and try to think of people who you think have dignity and class; who you respect on those grounds. Let’s see who I can come up with…
Barack Obama
…man this is hard…
Jon Stewart
Wil Wheaton
Hey, there’s a great example. Wil Wheaton. Mr. Twitter himself. He doesn’t share his private moments at the cost of his dignity. He shares humourous private moments and wry observations but he maintains his dignity even when being self deprecating.
I run this blog and admittedly in the past I may have discussed some things that should have remained private so I’m no angel in this tale but perhaps I’m just one of the many caught up in the currents of popular trends. A falling tide lowers all ships I guess.
Since when did private become synonymous with close-minded, boring, or secretive? Why is privacy something that can’t be respected anymore? Sure we want an open government but how about the privacy of our personal lives? There are some places where accountability and privacy are not mutually exclusive or at war with each other.
I think we all need to stand up and declare: “I have dignity and I have a private life. I have class. There are some things in my life that are for me and my family alone. There are some things that I will not do at the cost of my dignity”.
Go on, say it if it’s true. If it’s not, ask yourself why.
