Giving Big Brother What They Want

I have always found it interesting when people complain about "Big Brother" is watching, the government is reading our email, bugging our phones, tapping our kegs...well, you know what I mean. What makes this so interesting is the amount that we complain about it and yet anyone with access to a computer can find out what you are doing at anytime you allow them to. And the best part is, there are really no government regulations on what can and cannot be said over the Internet. It's kind of where total freedom of speech meets invasion of privacy and has a little baby that makes the rock relationship all better, you know those marriages.

Myspace, facebook and livejournal allow their users all sorts of access and freedom to write whatever they want to. Great, first amendment right at its best. They even allow their users to spread horrible and vicious rumors under false pretences. Take the case in Missouri a few years back for instance. A mother, posing as a girls classmate, ridicules the girl to the point that she kills herself over the attacks all on myspace for the world to see. The sad part is, this is by no means an isolated incident.

There are also a handful of incidences where teachers have lost their jobs for posting pictures on their facebook account with drinks in their hand. It's generally known that people working with children get burnt out after 4 years, so I don't begrudge them drinking. But seriously, I just don't know if I want you teaching my child if your not smart enough NOT to post pictures of you getting plastered with your girlfriends Friday night. And don't complain when you get fired when your boss, who your probably stupid enough to have as a buddy, checks it out. Besides, you never know who their friends are.

Blogging in general gives us all a greater sense that what we have to say means something to people. Well, judging by the amount of "followers" this blog has, I can tell you that is not necessarily the case at all. Back in the day, dating myself, sisters used to get mad about their little brothers, older brothers, parents, what have you reading their journals hearing about this and that, now we'll gladly share it on the Internet so everyone can see it, or hear about it.

And now the latest craze is twitter, which allows you to answer the ultimate question, "What are you doing?" And what makes it great is that on their actual website, twitter claims that we should all do this because if your at a party and your friends tweet you they may want to join you at the party. Seriously? Listen, (or read) if I'm at a party and my friends aren't and the best thing they can think of is to twitter me to see what I'm doing...well, maybe there's a reason they weren't invited. However, on the plus side, this does allow me to see what minor celebs and pointless news media people are doing.

My twitter list: Jon Stewart; Bill O'Reilly; Shepherd Smith; Anderson Cooper; Neil Patrick Harris; Wolf Blitzer; Ann Coulter; Lou Dobbs; Snoop Dogg; Tony Reali; Meatloaf; Alice Cooper; and 95% of those who would tweet me, just to name a few.

Sorry, I got off topic, these thing can be addictive. My point is, what's the point in complaining about the government interfering in your everyday life if you let them in openly? Be smart about what you do and how you do it, you just never know whose watching.

COMING SOON TO A TWITTER NEAR YOU...POLITICAL LIABILITY. I just have to fight the urge of self-respect and dignity that tell me not to join.