Monday, June 6, 2011

weinergate

I guess the jury is officially still out on this grey-boxer-briefed-Anthony-Weiner-Twitter business and, while I remain skeptical (not unconvinced--just skeptical) that he actually Tweeted the now-famous photo of his penis outline, I can see how it might have happened.

When one becomes comfortable in the veiled spotlight which social media provides, a bizarre phenomenon can occur, in which a person's inner exhibitionist rears its head in the form of passive-aggressive song lyrics, vague, cryptic status updates and, yes, inappropriate photos.

While I have yet to Tweet a genital shot, I can admittedly relate the thrill of broadcasting intimate thoughts and feelings online (hello, I'm blogging about one right now). There's something incredibly appealing to my emotionally in-touch, opinionated, yet confrontation-avoiding self about a place to release private things into the universe. Because I may not be able to admit my feelings for a friend out loud, but I can post a line or two from a song on Facebook. I can't look someone in the eyes and tell him or her that they made me feel angry, but I can blog about it in a vague yet obvious way and deal with the consequences later. Really, it's brilliant.

And in doing these things, I can tell myself I'm being expressive--that I'm not holding it in. Should there be any queries about the intention behind the posted material, I can, like Representative Weiner, blame it on a hacker or respond vaguely, in a way that can't later be construed as lying should the real truth come out one day.

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