Paradigm Shifted

I had a conversation once with someone who commented that Americans are very candid. It’s almost as if we lack the filter that separates what should be public and what should be private. The conversation was in reference to personal relationships, but it was a very good point from a societal perspective.

We are, as a nation, culture, society, very open and transparent. We have a history of it, from our governance and political systems, to our corporate responsibilities, to our international negotiations. And we take pride in this openness.

It’s not a surprise, then, that on social and cultural levels, we see the same degree of candidness. Americans love reality TV (though we aren’t the only ones), and we love the exposure of our celebrities. In fact, reality TV stars are the next generation of celebrity.

And we don’t just revel in others’ openness – we actively promote our own. We love to blog, we love facebook, we love putting our thoughts and ideas and opinions out there for the world to see. It’s not just about being well-known on tape, it’s about being famous online. Internet killed the video star.

In a recent New York Times Magazine article, Emily Gould talks about her own journey through public exposure 2.0, a sacrifice on the altar of oversharing. From her humble beginnings with her own blog (Emily Magazine), through her rise at Gawker, she makes insightful points about what it means to be be a celebrity, expose a celebrity, and expose herself.

While I am a fan of transparency, I do admit that I’m a little uneasy with how available we make our personal details. Madonna commented once that no one would ever be able to dig up dirty little secrets about you if you just told everyone everything. But information can be a powerful tool, and there is such a thing as saying too much.

But Madonna had a point. If you have no secrets, there is nothing with which you could be blackmailed. There is nothing you have to explain later, nothing you have to try and hide, nothing to be ashamed of. And if our cultural penchance for candidness and transparency continues to bleed into other aspects of society, then perhaps it is something to be actively pursued.