On Privacy (and the Lack Thereof) in the Modern World

We’re such a contradictory species.  We demand our privacy from the online world, yet will share our demographic and financial information with vendors when we shop online.  We demand our privacy from social network sites, yet will post pictures of our family members and other details of our lives for anyone on our friends lists to enjoy.  Never mind that many friends lists have hundreds of people on them, most of whom aren’t personally known to the account holder.  We worry about how the government might be watching us and demand that they leave us alone, yet insist in the same breath that they keep us safe from harm 24/365.  Government shouldn’t be allowed to track you, but they can track anybody who might attack us, or simply the guy down the street who you think needs to be kept track of because he’s ‘weird’.

Folks, the only way to keep the possibility of being watched completely at bay is to give up everything that connects you to the rest of the world.  No internet, no telephone, no mail.  No electricity unless you make just enough for your own needs.  Public water means a bill and that means mail that can be tracked.  No TV unless the signals are snatched from thin air.  No bank accounts – strictly a cash existence – and goodness knows that credit would be an absolute no-no.  No job in the outside world where taxes are withheld.  You must be totally self-sufficient and independent of all that surrounds you.  Ah, but then there’s that pesky fixed location you’re in, not to mention anyone who might know where you are or even were just a day before.  You must cut yourself off from everything and everyone in order to have that warm and safe sense of privacy you crave.

And you thought the guy down the street was ‘weird’.

Government is not some faceless entity.  It is a collection of people doing their jobs, trying to serve us the best they can.  Generally speaking, they're not looking for you unless you give them a reason to be looking for you.  Can they overstep their bounds?  Can and have on occasion.  Sadly, all it takes is one paranoid protector or policy maker for things to go wrong.  We try to keep our government on the up and up, but we don’t always succeed.  Oh, the humanity that tries to do what’s best for us and the humanity that tries to make sure they continue to do that without making us feel like we’re under a microscope.  Key word to remember – human.  Flawed little creatures that we are.

We need to be vigilant to criminal activity at any level, but we also need to realize that privacy at all costs has a cost and it’s one few wish to pay.  Speaking as a somewhat eccentric middle-age woman, someone who likely qualifies as ‘weird’ in more than a few folks’ eyes, I can tell you that I’m comfortable with the level of scrutiny I live at in our society.  Perhaps it’s because I don’t bother ‘them’ and ‘they’ don’t bother me and I might care more if I was more than the quiet little maverick I am.  But, don’t expect me to be sympathetic the next time you whine about how ‘Big Brother’ is watching and how ‘they’ are taking away your right to a private existence.  I appreciate, savor and protect my privacy as much as the next person, but I also know that to live publicly means being visible in one form or another.

So, get over it and live with knowing that everything about you is likely in folders somewhere, or cut yourself off from the rest of us and go live in the wilderness.  Just remember to pull down the shades so the elk don’t have to watch you undress.

(Apologies to editing sticklers for the single quotes around some words – I couldn't think of a better way to emphasize them.)