Jeffrey Quick's Blog

Don't open the virtual trenchcoat!

The wife and I were watching 20-20 the other night, the show about privacy, which was half a shill for surveillance cameras and half a warning about exposing yourself in public. Now CASEite James Chang carries on the theme some more.

It took me a long time in this life to learn the value of circumspection. Some people would claim that I still haven't learned it. But, having been there (pre-Net), I think I understand what's going on with people who put their entire private lives on the Net. We're all looking for unconditional love. But that doesn't exist outside the realm of the Gods...if there. Not even your mother constantly loves you unconditionally; if you have a wonderful mother, maybe she does, but she sure as hell doesn't LIKE you sometimes. We can't find that unconditional love or know that it's unconditional unless we show the things that might drive somebody away. So people who wouldn't think of leaving the house without makeup on will sit in their nightwear and discuss their boink-buddy-du-jour or post pictures of themselves acting like absolute jerks, in hopes that somebody will love them anyway.

This isn't about hypocrisy; I'm not suggesting that you represent yourself as something you aren't. And it's certainly not about "freedom of speech", which is a matter of government and not society. We are free to say anything we can pay for. It's about omitting information which is nobody's business.

It's something that concerns me. There's not a lot of "private me" here. But I have strong opinions, which I express strongly, in a not-particularly-welcoming campus society, and I worry about blowback. When I'm dealing with musical or academic colleagues, "fair-n-balanced" is the word. When dealing with politicians and the special interests who hire them (including YOU), I'm only fair enough to not sound like a total raving loon. I have no more obligation to praise usurpers of liberty than the Maltz Museum has to do an exhibition about Hitler's autobahns and support for organic farming. In any case, the important thing here is that we are all by right self-governing, self-owning individutals, and that the abandonment of that principle is destroying Western civilization. If that's an uncomfortable truth, read Mano or somebody; I don't care.

Comments

Posted by:
Posted on: December 31, 2006 03:08 PM

When I'm dealing with musical or academic colleagues, "fair-n-balanced" is the word. When dealing with politicians and the special interests who hire them (including YOU), I'm only fair enough to not sound like a total raving loon.

I am not sure you can make this distinction in an online environment. When talking to people or sending out emails, you pick the method you deal with them. When you have an online presence, such as a blog, everyone reads it the same way.

How are you able to play on both sides of the fence in an online environment, where you are identified by name and using an employer-supplied resource? It seems like a high risk to take, since you never know who is reading your thoughts and how they will personally interpret it. Do you worry about how colleagues will interpret your thoughts and interact with you?

Posted by: Jeffrey Quick
Posted on: January 1, 2007 07:37 AM

Oh, sure I do. But what is more important, I think, is to do my job well and with cheer. That makes more of an impression on the people I interact with on a daily basis than any extracurricular idea-mongering. I find that Case has more of a commitment to real diversity than many schools I have been associated with. I suspect that's the influence of being largely a techie school; people don't succeed at Case by avoiding reality, and they can differentiate between reality and opinion. Anyway, I'm just an old-line liberal with attitude; there's really very little to object to. Generally, I don't do collectivism, so there's not much for members of identity groups to get excited about.

Posted by: James
Posted on: January 3, 2007 11:42 AM

Should we mitigate any controversial comments on our blogs? If you feel my postings and comments are offensive or perhaps unclear, ask about it instead of suppressing it. I will try to explain my reasoning. These days, it is more easier to scream and shout down the other speaker than a constructive debate.

Case is pretty much a tolerant campus. If a controversial incident occurs, I think most would take a step back, think hard on the situation, then make the right choice.

Posted by: James
Posted on: May 25, 2007 01:44 PM

I find that Case has more of a commitment to real diversity than many schools I have been associated with