True Colors

I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed our class discussion in Thursday’s class. I always take pleasure in taking an ordinary topic, such as a blog or a picture, and looking at it in a whole new way and asking simple questions about them that really make you think. So when the whole issue of being able to decipher who someone is by their blog, their “about me” section or their photos really intrigued me. Sure, they may tell you something about what they are like, but it is all staged. Everything about facebook, myspace, or a blog is set up in a way that only what the person wants you to see is viewable. The music or the movies that are listed are ones that most likely evoke good memories, but what about their guilty pleasures or what they listen to or watch when everything in their world is not so gung-ho? The blog postings are not usually ones that bare the soul of the author. The “about me” section is filled only with things they want you to know about them. The pictures that are posted are ones that the person most likely looks good in, but we are not always done up nicely and smiling at all hours of the day. All it catches are snippets of you. Even when you think you are being brutally honest in what you post, it is never going to be you, and because of that they can never fully know you unless they are around for a long time.

Then there is Postsecret, where people expose some of their deepest, darkest secrets anonymously. Although there are no names attached, this is where people’s true colors really shine through. The whole world has access to reading them, and often times I am sure the audience can relate, but only the sender of the postcard knows this about themselves. You cannot connect the secret to the sender and learn something about their true identity. It is sad to me that some people feel the only way they can truly reveal something honest about themselves is anonymously.