"A writer and nothing else: a man alone in a room with the English language, trying to get human feelings right. " ~John K. Hutchens, New York Herald Tribune, 10 September 1961

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

"All your dignity is belong to us."

posted by Omair

Soon, war will be upon us. Not the fun kind with armies and explosives and fascist dictators. But a far more quiet, more sinister war. It'll be clean, quiet, bloodless, and mundane. A war we'll be fighting without even knowing it.

Look at us. If you're reading this, I'm shocked. But that's besides the point. If you're reading this you're probably within three feet of an LED. Look at that smug little bastard, glowing innocently, lulling you into a false sense of security. Pretty colour though. Hehe, shiny.

But yes, the machines are everywhere. In our homes, our offices, our bags, even in our pants. Everything you do, everything, is probably being uploaded on Facebook, youtube, twitter or what have you right now. What's more, you're probably doing it yourself. Some of you, to an annoying extreme. (That's right, you status update fetishists, I'm talking to you. Get a life, and keep it to your damn self.)

Now, because we're people, we do stupid things from time to time. It's our privilege as sane rational adults, to do stupid things. Often in the company of others. Often when someone in said company will have a mobile phone with a camera built in. And that act will be stripped of all context and become a permanent digital testament to the wonders of you, and will remain forever googleable to your friends, family, boss, police, your children and your children's children down the generations.

Your dirty laundry, once safely locked in with the skeletons in your closet, will now not only be aired, but delivered directly via courier to friends and strangers alike.
And that's just us grown ups. What about the little ones? Children thrive on stupidity, and parents ensure their silliness is captured in all its glory and promptly uploaded. Twenty years from now, these kids will grow up and have their childhood rubbed in their faces repeatedly, a curse they will never be able to shake off.

We are merrily skipping down a brightly lit, digitally enhanced, OCD- fuelled dangerous road. Stop the madness! Stop the incessant updating, newsfeeding, twittering and blathering.
For god's sake, live your life without advertising every moment of it.

Keep it real.


*Like*

8 comments:

Blue Wit said...

EXACTLY.

Exactly. I realised a few months ago that if someone wanted, they could easily figure out exactly where I live just from my FB albums (oops, was that too much information?). Massive "WAKE UP DUDE" moment for me.

Did you intentionally leave out blogging, though? *gives cheeky grin*

redtabulation said...

Intentional or not, the title made me cringe.

Blue Wit said...

Yes, Omair who're you quoting in the title? Made me think of Zardari, for some reason.

Omair said...

Haha, no, the misspell was intentional. It's from an internet meme, a typo from a classic videogame that said 'All your bases are belong to us.'

Hussain said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hussain said...

I loved the *like* at the end. Good stuff, man. :D

Raiya said...

I seriously have no idea why people make such a fuss over posting photos on fb or updating statuses...there is this option called "delete album" and there's another called "privacy settings"...people should try using those some time instead of going on and on and on about privacy and security. If someone doesnt want to read my statuses, he should change the settings he doesnt want to see my photos again change the settings or better the person shuld delete me from his friend lists but No! he wont because ppl need to show the world that they are popluar by keeping a friend lists of 900 even when when they personally know only two of them

Rabab Khan said...

The title drew me. Very good post that makes an excellent point. We leave our digital footsteps everywhere.