Something interesting dawned on me this weekend and just for the record, not because I have something to hide. This is just a thought about the internet age we find ourselves in. It became clear to me this weekend that as human beings we have given up our right to be forgotten.
What do I mean? I mean that in the past if you passed wind in a public place there was no phones there to record it, no platform to pontificate the finer points of manners on, and that wind would dissipate and disappear. If you passed wind anywhere you were given the chance to be forgotten. A chance to reflect and change. Change without the possibility of the scabbed over transgressions being ripped open again and again.
I think this is the state of the world we live in. The connection that Twitter and Facebook and Youtube offer is unbelievable. It truly is, although we have not become any happier or any less lonely for that matter. This might prove the point that happiness really is an inside job. That joy and meaningful living exists deep inside our minds and heart, but back to the subject at hand.
We live in an age where we no longer have a right to be forgotten because anyone has the ability to dig deep into our past and effect us. I’m not talking specifically about politicians wearing black faces wanting to grab certain things. I am talking about you and me and whomever stumbles upon this little journal entry. I think there is something to be said to have the opportunity to be forgotten. To have the stupid things we have thought, said or done, disappear from memory so that we can get at the business of doing something better with our life.
If the dumb things we say follow us everywhere we go, then there is really not much hope for humanity. We will always have to answer for things that we no longer want to face. We’re not talking about criminal things here. Those without a doubt should follow you as a bad odor. What is in question here are those drunk nights, those lapses of judgment of a sober mind, or anything and everything we in time want to bury and to remain dead.
The internet has brought about a real Walking Dead scenario. The more you say and act stupid the more you can be guaranteed that you’ll never forget it. This is a word of caution but I am not suggesting that we live in a cabin somewhere and shun all technological advancement. I have no point to make, except that I have given some thought to our right to be forgotten. It is a freedom like no other, one that many people would will not even consider a freedom, until they give it some thought.
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