16 August 2011
This morning on my Turkey motorcycle tour while enjoying the scenery of Constanta, I recall a sketch from Monty Python (now I am showing my age). Sometimes known as “Oscar Wilde” it contains the comment that “… there is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is NOT being talked about.”
In this day an age we can all command an audience and post whatever we like on the web. But who really reads or even believes what is written on the world wide web?
I would suggest there is a correlation between the ease of publishing and the rise in unreliable public information; inverse to the people that read or even acknowledge same.
I have been the subject of untrue statements posted on the web. I was very upset about this at the time. But once it’s there what can you do about it? Answer: nothing.
And the thing is, not one person who knows me has ever called me to ask me about these claims. I doubt with all the gigabytes of information out there if any people I care about have even seen these lies.
We all like to think untrue claims will smear our reputation; and we think of reputation in a global sense. To think this way for most of us is to have tickets on ourselves. Perhaps one day it will come home to roost but I doubt it – unless it is true of course.
But I know the truth and that is all that matters because the people that care about me will have to make their own minds up. And I know they are solid people who will make judgment on all the facts at hand. Not just what is posted on the web.
We all want our 15 minutes of fame. Sometimes it is more than what we bargained for; even if it is only in our own minds.
