One of my most recent summer reads was a book by David Eggers called The Circle. The book is essentially a fictional commentary on the state of social media in our world, with an all-knowing, all-seeing, all-controlling social media conglomerate, "The Circle," reaching for more and more control and access into our lives. The book is excellent, and I highly recommend it if for no other reason than we should all realize how terrifyingly close we are to a becoming the fictional dystopia of the story.
As part of The Circle's oversight, they introduce a program in which politicians start wearing button cams that stream online 24/7 so that constituents can hold their elected officials accountable for their conversations, campaign promises, and backroom dealings. The program is so widely popular, that expands to the general public, and soon everyone is encouraged to "go transparent" and share every detail of their lives with the world in a constant live stream. It's very similar to the "Truman Show"...but for everyone. And you can probably guess what happens...some social good to be sure: criminals are caught, kidnapped victims are found, adulterers are busted, etc. etc. etc. But there's a dark side to being "all-knowing" as well. No longer can you choose to be anonymous. If you're not on a camera of your own, someone else's will pick you up. The things that get people into trouble on social media today are magnified 10x's, because, no longer are people worried about a private photo or video being accidentally exposed...it's all out there, 24/7, whatever you want (or don't want!) to see.
Thus the book begs it's audience to consider the true ramifications of a "transparent" world, and how we draw and maintain the lines between privacy and secrecy.
Which brings us back to the aforementioned Planned Parenthood videos. While I'm all for investigative journalism, and if Planned Parenthood is doing something illegal they should absolutely be outed for their conduct, I worry that what the videos are less investigative, and more the product of having access to decent editing software and too much information. And here's why both parts should bother you...and again...it has nothing to do with abortion!
First, access to editing software. This isn't a particularly difficult thing to come by. There are video editing apps for smartphones that aren't perfect...but can get the job done. Heck, if you want to skip the video and just edit audio clips, it's even easier to do. In a Washington Post article summarizing the latest PP video release, the author noted over 20 places where the video is cut, edited, or scenes are spliced together. While that doesn't necessarily change the content or context of a conversation...it certainly could...and we should all care about that. Why? Well...because while there are people who are inherently good and don't want to hurt people, there are also people who are bad and will hurt people. Today the attack in against Planned Parenthood, but let's say tomorrow the attack is against public education. If you ran enough audio in my classroom, you'd likely hear me say the "N word" (it's in To Kill a Mockingbird). You'd also hear me explain, in generally vague language, any number of sexual situations (they run rampant throughout ALL of Shakespeare's works). I have students sign a permission slip to watch an R rated movie that has the "F word" in it, so come to class the right day, and you could pick that up too. What you could do with all that...who knows. But stuff like this becomes popular on Youtube all the time. Didn't you hear!?! President Obama sings Taylor Swift now! ;)
The second thing to consider is the access to too much information...and in truth, this is why I have no desire to watch the videos and what got me thinking about them in regards to "The Circle." Let's imagine for just a second that what the videos show isn't actually illegal. Whether you think it should be or not is momentarily unimportant. Let's just say, for argument's sake that, and I'll use very vague politically correct language, "redistributing human tissue after a medical procedure, and accepting payment for the costs associated with transporting and distributing said tissue" is legal. A number of states have investigated similar Planned Parenthood programs in their own jurisdictions and found no wrongdoing...so it might be the case that no wrong doing has actually occurred. The question then becomes...do you want to know about it? Do you want to know all the grisly details? Do you want to see it unfold? There are A LOT of perfectly legal things that I don't want to see or partake in.
One of the criticisms of the videos that has been stated repeatedly is that the language used in the videos is "dehumanizing." They use words like "tissue," "sample," "specimen," instead of "baby" or "fetus." I can't help but think that people would be even MORE outraged if they used a word like "baby,"...but again that's beside the point. I'm reminded of a date I once had with a helicopter paramedic. His job was fascinating, but because he flew into terrible accident sites and dire medical situations, he had also seen a lot of gut wrenching things. I was kind of horrified by his sense of humor about all of it, referring to burn victims as "crusty critters" and a man he had seen decapitated and "the headless horseman." After a while, he noticed my discomfort and apologized explaining that sometimes it was easier to "dehumanize" the situation because if you actually thought about what you were doing in terms of people, families, futures destroyed, you'd never get out of bed in the morning. You stuck to medical terminology to remain professional or respectful when dealing with family members or other people on the scene, and you joked where and with whom you could to cope with the difficult things you were dealing with.
There were any number of reasons that we weren't going to work as a couple, but among them was the fact that I couldn't and didn't want to, have the kind of conversations he needed to have about the things he dealt with. I was never going to be able to make a joke about a 5 year old being killed in a car accident, and didn't care to know about all the terrible accidents, injuries and diseases that were happening to people everyday. Maybe that makes me a weak person, but I'm a person that knows I don't want that much information.
This will continue to be a debate of the ever expanding, ever connecting, ever transparent 21st century world. How much do you need...or want...to see?
With a presidential election coming next year, I'm sure there will be dozens of videos, audio clips, smear campaigns, and hot button topics that all take their turn in the spotlight. I can only hope that people discern for themselves where the ounces of the truth are in the flood of conversations.
Transparency is great...until we look through the truth instead of looking at it.
Happy Trails,
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