My blog

They say that the anonymity as well as the lack of body language offered by the Internet allowed many people to show their true selves, albeit unwittingly sometimes. Let us skip the obvious topic of cybercrime now. I'd like to focus on human interaction now. Don't we find the experience of interacting with someone else on the Web oddly differnt from that face-to-face?

Even in instances when the actual identities of the correspondents online were known mutually, this observation has proven to be accurate. What are we so afraid of telling that dark secret or dissatisfaction straight in the face? Is it a primordial law of nature that we govern our social interaction through the shrewd interpretation of body language? Maybe we really are restrained in such a manner, even for those of us who are brutally forthright in their approach.

I don't deny that i wear a mask when i'm out of my private space,in the outside world. There seems to be a tacit acknowledgment from some think-tank within me that the outside world out there is one huge stage. And it's where anything and everything can happen. The stage goes on and on. There's no curtains and the show is never-ending. There's no place for the characters to retire to. They continue playing out their roles which never cease. *Be careful... This is what i'm told. I don't blame anyone for feeling outraged at this revelation of mine. I expected it all along. But then again, i don't blame myself and i don't think it's wrong.

Since when did we not have an invisible social contract to adhere to? Since when did we not exist together in a society? Traditional thinking dictates that individuals if left to their devices, will unleash violent dynamics that will eventually result in pandemonium if they collide with one another. We take various loci in society and in our development, subconsciously acknowledging authority and at the same time, showing considerable restraint. Through time, this mental restraint have come to extend beyond the basic agreement of not exercising physical hurt on others. It has come to encompass a sophisticated package of mutual agreements of not doing unto others what you would not want others to do onto you. This is the golden rule that manifest itself in many guises in many leading religions. At this point in time, it's interesting to note that religion and the concept of society is intricately intertwined. Something to ponder about.

Enough about social contracts. How about the need to express oneself? Does it mean reneging on the social contract when one decides to express himself at the expense of others? This situation appears when we try to blog doesn't it? Often i see that the situation is extreme with some people express themselves to the point of being oppressive. Now, do we have spare a thought for people when we blog? After all, we are publishing it in the greatest media with its outreach, unprecedented and all.

I have faced this dilemma myself and it never bothered me as it does now since it's my policy not to feature anything that might hurt anyone. It's really out of sensitivity. Yet somehow, i'm amused at this act of self-restraint. Toeing the line here and practising self-censorship fervently as if my blog has been declared by ESRB to have a rating of "Everybody". My fingers are aching, really. Not in the paparazzi kind of way of course... The act of self-censorship really takes away the flavour of my entry and make it less than frank. After all, i embarked on blogging in the first place to show verbal and pictorial accounts of what i want to say or show. Self-censorship seems to defeat the purpose doesn't it? Of course, i wouldn't try to be oppressive and all that. I'm not out to create a hate campaign either...

Well, i'm thinking of relaxing my self-imposed censorship a wee bit. After all, it is all about showing a side of my true self, unmasked.