Blaugust the 31st: The Masks We Wear

Well, here it is, the last day of Blaugust. Unlike NaNoWriMo, there wasn't a strenuous thirteen hundred word pace to keep up. But developing the habit of posting every day is good practice for that endeavor, I suppose. I did miss one Saturday, but made up for it by posting twice the next day. Congratulations to everyone who managed to post 31 times this month. I doubt I will keep up this pace, but I don't feel nearly as exhausted about it this year. So hopefully, Slacktember won't be the two-post month it was last year.

Scooter challenged me to make this final post of Blaugust a deeper post than some of the others I've written during the month. I was reading Xanziee's post the other day that was, in turn, inspired by Syl's post about the masks we wear, and whether they allow our true selves to be displayed. This thread of posts goes back even further to Jeromai and Psychochild, if you're interested in delving that far.

Syl and Xanziee both quoted from Oscar Wilde (if you can't see the pic): "Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth." Wise words, to be sure. But another wise man once said, "What I told you was true... from a certain point of view." There is a darker side to this story. "Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing." Nothing insulates people from the consequences of their actions quite the way the internet does. From relative safety and anonymity, people harass and harangue others, threaten them, and even cause serious situations, all without apparent consequence. The mask can be a powerful, freeing thing. But is it the truth or a fantasy? And if it is your fantasy, how can you be sure people won't understand it to be the truth? What we do or say in cyberspace can have consequences in meatspace.

There is a school of thought that games and other activities online allow us to live out fantasies that we would never dream of doing in reality. I'm not a murderer, but I can play a ruthless Sith Warrior on my PC. I'm not a street thug, but there is a game for that, too. Is the set of pixels that I control in the game a role or an avatar? Another school of thought, reflected in the Wilde quote above, is that these games offer us the opportunity to act outside the normal constraints of civilized society. Some people take that opportunity too far, becoming assholes—or worse—online. Are you a dick? Or do you just play one on the internet? Is there really a difference?

There's yet another side to the discussion of online masks. While they are not completely separated, I have one online persona that is represented here, on Twitter, and on G+. Rowan Blaze, intrepid gamer and blogger. I don't advertize that persona much on Facebook and other places, where I use the name I was given by my parents and where I still communicate with family and friends, despite any differences in philosophy we may have. Which is the "real" me? Is either? How am I different at home with Scooter or with my kids than I am here on the blog or at the office? Am I an extrovert? An introvert? Something in between?

Do I talk about the dark thoughts that occasionally run through my mind? [I've edited this sentence a dozen times, still trying to keep the mask in place.] I know a few bloggers who have discussed their depression (and other ailments, other conflicts) that they can escape for a while here in cyberspace. But that escape has its consequences, too. I wish we could gather for one big group hug, and that that would solve everything. But it won't, and many of you would probably recoil from the crowd anyway. We can find solace with each other here, and offer our meager support with words of kindness. /Hugs to you all until we can find a way to shed the masks forever.

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It's over! Congratulations again to all the Blaugustian Aggronites. For hundreds of awesome posts, head over to the Blaugust Nook, where Bel is keeping track of everything and community members are sharing encouragement and ideas.

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