[tt] [silk] Fwd: Introduction

[Eugen Leitl]

----- Forwarded message from Udhay Shankar N <udhay at pobox.com> -----

From: Udhay Shankar N <udhay at pobox.com>
Date: Fri, 08 Feb 2008 17:34:37 +0530
To: silklist at lists.hserus.net
Subject: Re: [silk] Fwd: Introduction
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Reply-To: silklist at lists.hserus.net

Srini Ramakrishnan wrote: [ on 12:21 PM 2/8/2008 ]

>This situation could have easily played out in a non-public space
>following the same logical course, but exposed to a public list after
>the the social context was better understood. In 20-20 hindsight, this
>seems better. Given my preference for transparency over opaqueness
>this is perhaps not going to be my first reaction, nevertheless
>something I should mull over.

I would think it's a question of context. Or, as silk.lurker Danny 
O'Brien put it, a question of register [1].

Allow me to strongly recommend the post - it's very insightful on the 
topic(s) of what is appropriate and where, which seem to be what is 
at issue here as well.

See here:

>The problem here is one (ironically) of register. In the real world, 
>we have conversations in public, in private, and in secret. All 
>three are quite separate. The public is what we say to a crowd; the 
>private is what we chatter amongst ourselves, when free from the 
>demands of the crowd; and the secret is what we keep from everyone 
>but our confidant. Secrecy implies intrigue, implies you have 
>something to hide. Being private doesn't. You can have a private 
>gathering, but it isn't necessarily a secret. All these 
>conversations have different implications, different tones.
>
>
>Most people have, in the back of their mind, the belief that what 
>they say to their friends, they would be happy to say in public, in 
>the same words. It isn't true, and if you don't believe me, 
>tape-record yourself talking to your friends one day, and then 
>upload it to your website for the world to hear.
>
>
>This is the trap that makes fly-on-the-wall documentaries and 
>reality TV so entertaining. It's why politicians are so weirdly 
>mannered, and why everyone gets a bit freaked out when the 
>videocamera looms at the wedding.  It's what makes a particular kind 
>of gossip - the "I can't believe he said that!" - so virulent. No 
>matter how constant a person you are, no matter how unwavering your 
>beliefs, something you say in the private register will sound 
>horrific, dismissive, egotistical or trite when blazoned on the 
>front page of the Daily Mirror. This is the context that we are quoted out 
>of.
>
>
>But in the real world, private conversations stay private. Not 
>because everyone is sworn to secrecy, but because their expression 
>is ephemeral and contained to an audience. There are few secrets in 
>private conversations; but in transmitting the information contained 
>in the conversation, the register is subtly changed. I say to a 
>journalist, "Look, Dave, err, frankly the guy is a bit, you 
>know.  Sheesh.  He's just not the sort of person that we'd ever 
>approve of hiring.".  The journalist, filtering, prints, "Sources 
>are said to disapprove of the appointment.".
>
>
>Secrets have another register. They are serious (even when they are 
>funny secrets). We are both implicated when we share a secret. We 
>hide it from the world. Secrets don't change register - when they 
>are out, they preserve their damaging style.
>
>
>On the net, you have public, or you have secrets. The private 
>intermediate sphere, with its careful buffering. is shattered. 
>E-mails are forwarded verbatim. IRC transcripts, with throwaway 
>comments, are preserved forever. You talk to your friends online, 
>you talk to the world.


Udhay

[1] http://www.oblomovka.com/entries/2003/10/13#1066058820

-- 
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))


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