Ryan’s Journal: Does Transparency Lead To Accountability And Your Best Self?
by Ryan PewI watched a movie tonight called, “The Circle”, staring Tom Hanks and Emma Watson. (A quick thank you to Amazon and Apple for finally allowing me to stream Amazon Prime to my Apple TV!).
If you have not seen the film it is about a tech company in the Bay Area. The company is basically a combination of Google, Amazon, Oracle, and any other major tech company wrapped up into one.
I won’t explain the whole plot, but one overriding theme is that the company knows everything about you.
Your health, likes, friend and family groups, credit history and so on. The company believes that with this knowledge they can help humans live their best selves.
That total transparency will lead an individual to the right path. Secrets are what breaks down society so they must be abolished.
Obviously this is a movie that has some truth in our reality, but is an extreme version of it.
However, it made me think about the current climate of sexual victims coming forward.
In almost all the cases that have been proven the events happened behind closed doors and in secret. The assaulter hid their actions behind a veil and it was only when the victim came forward that some justice was served.
I continue to be bemused that after the victim comes forward the assaulter will release a statement saying this was a mistake and they have learned from it, it shouldn’t define them and so on.
How could transparency have prevented all of this?
I am sure in some cases the acts would have never occurred. The offender would have thought it too risky or perhaps would not have considered it at all since there were no hidden places.
This is more a thought lesson, but I could see how some increased transparency would prevent this type of action.
We have all been victimized at some point. It could be as simple as a playground bully or something much worse. Humanity is not always kind.
However, I also love my privacy and want to live my life outside the view of others from time to time. How do we balance it all?
I’m not sure I have that answer yet, but will continue searching.
Flickr image credit: Alias 0591