Nothing To Hide Behind

I’m not necessarily sick of being called Ginx, but I was inspired by Nikkolas of Skeptical Eye to begin using my own name. Maybe I changed the spelling… maybe I didn’t. Maybe I switched my first name to my last and my last to my first… maybe I didn’t. Maybe I even used my middle name in place of my first or last name… maybe I didn’t.

Rest assured, my parents loved me enough to not use “Ginx” as my middle name.

Feel free to call me Ginx, or Bret, or Alan, or douchebag, or fucktarded assclown, whatever. If you’re commenting on a post, usually “you” is even sufficient. I’m really not picky. I just think you guys deserve to call me something besides a pseudonym. Hell, we even know DM’s name (Dennis Markuze).

Maybe the world could use less anonymity. We worship privacy, or at least our illusion of privacy. People are afraid to share their names online for fear that random people will attack them. Statistically, if you are murdered, you willingly gave the person a key to your house (and they usually are or were related to you).

We also flip out, crying “Gestapo!” when traffic cameras or police operated CCTV street corner surveillance systems are suggested. Meanwhile, there are not hours, but months and even years of footage of each and every one of us, not in the hands of a constitutionally bound government, but among private security firms, stores, and even residences.

I am not worried about “invasions of privacy,” so much as I am upset about the implications of why people need privacy. And they do need it.

I live in a country where many ridiculous things are legislated against. Not long ago, homosexual sex could have landed you in jail, and Texas is hoping to revive the practice. Drugs are also illegal, and the selective enforcement of the narcotics ban is, in my opinion, the single greatest racial problem in America today.

The bottom line: there are things people would be punished for doing if they were caught that I believe they should be allowed to do. However, I think seeing what people are actually doing may even help us begin properly legislating, as people can no longer hide. An accurate picture may help us come to our senses.

I’m not saying put cameras in homes, but public places (where anyone with a camera phone can “invade your privacy” at any second) are not subject to privacy beyond illegal search and seizure without probable cause.

If the police were stopping everyone on a street and searching them, I would say it was an invasion of privacy. If a camera records everything that happens, I’m not worried. Bear in mind, most surveillance footage is never viewed. Unless there is a reason to review the tape (e.g. a crime in the area is reported), most security videos collect dust and deteriorate.

I think it would also help to make the cameras conspicuous. Besides being a very real deterrence to crime (much more so than random citizens carrying concealed weapons), it would remind people… maybe so they don’t pick their nose or choose that spot for a quickie in the bushes.