The mysterious case of Ms. Carrie Prejean

[--Pete]

Hi,

I think you are mistaken, Pete.

Wouldn't surprise me, happens all the time -- but I only admit it to my cats.:)

Yes, there are those who do want to spy on us, the 'common man'. They are our potential employers. They are the people whose children we will interact with when we volunteer for a community organization. They are our immediate neighbours. And yes, sadly, they are interested enough to spy on us.

True. But nothing new there at all. Busybodies and gossip have been around forever, and no amount of privacy laws would ever make much of a dent in it. And, while it may not be as innocuous as I make it sound, neither is it as intrusive as some would have you believe. I've been used as a reference by many over the years and can remember only one time actually being contacted. And that was for a top secret security clearance.

So, right or wrong, I believe that most people are sufficiently preoccupied with living their own life to take much effort or interest in the lives of others.

And notwithstanding any ability to avoid public stupidity, there now is a very good chance that private stupidity will also end up on youtube.

I think that we have different definitions of 'public' and 'private'. 'Private', to me, means alone or in the company of people I trust. If my "private stupidity will also end up on youtube", then that means I've been betrayed by someone I trusted -- not impossible, but so far it's happened only once.

You may well be of an age now when even private stupidity is a thing of the past, but the rest of us are not likely in that category. :P

Ouch :(

A nice sentiment and good for you for harbouring it. But you damn well don't need to know or see any of my business anyway. I am not ashamed of my imperfections but I still see no need to display them for the likes of you or anyone else.

Ah, but since I'm not curious, it wouldn't take much to keep them from me. But how far are you willing to go to keep them from those who are?

Privacy may not be my right, but I intend to protect it as if it were. :)

You have the right to protect your privacy as much as you can. I keep my curtains closed, I shred any paper that has personal information before recycling it, I don't discuss my medical or financial details in public. But I don't feel that the freedom of the media has to be curtailed to protect my privacy, which is, I think, the essence of this discussion; how much freedom is each of us willing to sacrifice for the illusion of protection.

--Pete