On nothing to hide

Last Updated on August 1, 2016 by Patrick

There is quite an unusual trend nowadays where some people hopped up on social media, especially google plus and facebook, think that it’s good to share experiences, stuff on the internet etc., having nothing to hide. This expression, “nothing to hide”, reminds me of the Orwelian novel 1984 and some films that were made recently on this topic. Also the notion of “big brother” comes to my mind.

I see this is a reaction against the so-called tyranny of those who impose the copyright law, with brute force, even, without ever understanding the usefulness of each and every of their rules and regulations. As Mark Twain said once: “Only one thing is impossible for God: To find any sense in any copyright law on the planet.” There is a usefulness, though, against those who take the intellectual property of, say, an artist and claim it as their own, not to mention that they commercialize it. In that I don’t see any sense whatsoever except the fact that those people are ill-willed and they enjoy harming others by any means possible. This is also a reaction against those that hurt them in the past and now they try to get even. It’s all reactionary, whether we like it or not.

It is ok to share, to help people with what we’ve got, but we also have to protect our properties against thieves, for there are these kind of people in the world too. The only problem I see is that we treat everything like it’s the only thing in the world, without ever thinking about other possibilities.

The opposite of the copyright law I find the so-called copyleft :D , where properties are protected through sharing. Now, I haven’t dug deep into this issue but I saw that people who use the copyleft rule are people who share valuable information that needs to spread to everyone for free. There are certain information that are very important for our personal development, for example, for our personal growth, like documentaries or conferences on different scientific subjects and so on.

But this thing with “nothing to hide” was brought to my attention when I watched several interviews with the world renowned US travel photographer Trey Ratcliff when he said that sharing artistic work over the internet should be free, or something like that, and that it should reach everyone, without using watermarks or even a signature on their work. He then said that “we have nothing to hide”, “we have no secrets” which really alarmed me and I admit, at first, I bought into it and complied with my work. Of course, art should not be measured, for it is unmeasurable, and should not be discriminative to some people, and of course, it should reach as many audiences, so to speak, as it possibly can. But the thing is artists should be respected too. I think every law has its own usefulness to some extent. Beyond that, other rules should be applied. So, let’s put our heads together and think before we act.

So what about intimacy? Should we ignore that what is private, personal, intimate should be kept to ourselves? Or should we expose ourselves entirely to the outside world, so to speak?

About this thing, “nothing to hide”, like I said, I am alarmed because it resonates with the same expression used in those manifests of political isms and controlling power machineries of society, governments and outwardly redirected reactionary revolutions that supposedly mean to make the world a better place when, like Satchmo said, the world ain’t so bad, but what we’re doing to it is what matters, how we use it etc. So, I think this is another meme, or mind virus meant to spread into our minds and change our way of thinking into “being in the cloud”, or sharing everything, probably including our beloved’s panties or pictures of them. I don’t see any mean to measure or control something that is uncontrollable and unmeasurable, when all we should do is go with the flow, allow for our lives to flourish also with the help of our own capacities. It is what brings us joy, if not happiness altogether, and what makes us humans: the capacity to be self-aware and human, that means to be kind, flexible, intelligent, ever adapting to situations and finding solutions to every issue that may occur in our lives. Not to mention that we are natively solidary and helpful to every being in this world, even to animals or plants, or to Mother Earth herself.

This thing and the so-called “in the cloud” kind of meme is what people hope to be the ultimate rule of sustainability for them, that means to keep together our worlds that are right now breaking apart. Boy, aren’t they dead wrong?! :( What keeps us together is our consciousness, our human values, or Soul, if you want, not our ego, our separatism against each other. Sharing is healthy, stealing is not. So put your mind at work and think a way through this.