Masks We Wear

At some point in my distant past I taught clown make-up classes to Campfire Girl groups. It's amazing what happens when you put on a mask, even a painted one.

This particular class was one group so they all knew each other. The other class I did was two different groups at the same time who did not know each other. They sat at separate tables and did not interact with each other. They were mostly very quiet and reserved. By the time they got all their make up on they were running around the room talking and laughing and even went outside to wave at cars passing on the street. Having the masks on made them anonymous and allowed them to do things they otherwise wouldn't do.

The World Wide Web is our collective "mask". Behind it's (perceived) protection of anonymity some people do and say things they would never do in a face to face situation. This is a double edged sword. On one side, it allows some people to express their creative side, their own opinions or defend themselves. On the other side it allows some people to spew forth hate, ignorance, intolerance, and other anti-social behavior that they otherwise would contain.

This virtual mask is also a great leveler; the very nature of it puts most of us on a level playing field with everyone else. On the web you can't see what a person looks like, so you can't judge them by their looks. You can't identify if they are deaf, blind, or have missing limbs. You can't identify (in many cases) gender or age ; all of the things that feed certain ingrained judgements we have about people which directs our behavior toward them.

There is also a whole generation (or two) of people out there who apparently believe that because they have their virtual personal space set to "private" that no one else can see what they write or the pictures they post. They don't get that posting anything in cyberspace is equivalent to putting your diary on a shelf in the library; while everyone may not see it, it's there as a permanent record for anyone to find who wants to and is determined enough to look for it. They also don't get that alliances shift and the person who was your BFF yesterday isn't your BFF today and is forwarding your compromising pictures and/or comments to everyone they know.

The virtual world is just like the real world. There are consequences for what you say and do and the choices you make. You have the power and the responsibility. What are you going to do with it?