Dress to impress

So, what is the point of keeping an online identity, where people, even from around the world, can read news about you - even, sometimes, your innermost thoughts. Is this person we've created the same as the person we are 'in the real world'? Do they ever meet? If they are different, do they meet when we are around those people who are aware of - or have 'met' - our digital identity?

This article was in the Times earlier this month. Impression management is an interesting theory for why people act the way they do. Our generation is intimately connected to this kind of digital strategy. We are pressured to show ourselves online, but then we choose which part of ourselves. Or, enhance a part of ourselves. The classic example is the "MySpace picture", using odd camera angles or photoshop enhancements to add 'beauty' and lose pounds.

Interesting enough. Is this internet revolution creating self-actualizing people or creating some sort of 'move-to-the-center' world where everyone tries to copy the person next to them?

If our profiles are copy & paste, and our profiles are reflections of our personality, are our personalities 'copy & paste'? We try not to think like that - it's the defensive nature of our egos - but I think it's true. We, as a culture, tend to copy and move with the flow of society.

What does everyone else think? Do we manage our images, or just maintain them to reflect our own identities?

Okay. Thorns and Roses:
+ The cold weather has broken. It actually felt normal to be outside this morning. I didn't even wear my hat - yes, that ugly, ugly, pale-green Army issue winter hat. Never Again.

+ More on the French Societie General scandal.. Turns out he was able to break the security systems and make billions in unauthorized trades (and lose billions in bad bets) with simple tools provided by Microsoft. Turns out that security by obscurity doesn't really work - and security by being an oppressive company isn't much help either. It's quite a libertarian notion that people with computer skills should be constantly testing the bounds of the digital world, but it's only through that exploration that we can avoid the big cracks in the cement like this.]

+ The D debates. We're all on the same page now - I hope. Maybe the attacks will stop and we'll get on to winning the general election.

+ Youtube music/media mashups are great. Here's something I found this morning - Helter Skelter set to the opening scenes of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Check it out:



God only knows when your word isn't pure