please don't post that on facebook

Say: "Please don't post that on facebook" and all of the sudden you are a snob.  Is this endemic to notions of being "real," "down to earth," or "not taking yourself too seriously?"  For me, it is none of these things (OK, so maybe a little bit of the third).  It is just that my sensibilities of privacy resemble the more developed European model which values informational self-determination.

This is not so much a question of vanity as it is control.  Is it unfair for one to seek to control how they are perceived?  I think this question highlights the gap between U.S. and European notions of privacy.  Americans see privacy as a matter of liberty.  Europeans see privacy as a matter of dignity.

Images and video are visual information about you.  You very well may not want to have that information scattered to the four winds.  Even in benign situations, lighting, what you are wearing, and other factors may yield images you do not approve of.

If one is not a public figure, should she not be able to assert that the only images of her on the web be images that she approves of?  Like it or not, visual information posted to the web can profoundly indignify you.  (extreme e.g., see the classic YouTube video of the "Star Wars kid" with the golf ball retriever emulating Darth Maul).  But voicing any concern with this makes one a snob?

auto cucumber god donut

In the information age, we allow computers to finish the words we are typing.  I do not know why I laughed so hard (and repeatedly) at this.

Anti-Ivy League?

 

Apart from legacies, those interested in competitive application at Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton or Yale must demonstrate the highest levels of achievement. Indeed, distinctions such as valedictorian, astronomical standardized test scores, or (for those seeking an MBA, J.D., or M.D.) stellar undergraduate academics, are commonplace among applicants. Consequently, when you lack these achievements the ivy bloc’s opinion of you is: (1) human rubbish at the very worst; and (2) a guise of kinsmanship veiling pity upon you at the very best. Wasp legacies play by different rules. (see MAY 2011 Crimson -- Harvard’s student newspaper -- article citing Harvard’s acceptance rate for legacies as around 30%).

Ah, but take heart *sarcasm*, if you are accepted to an ivy league institution and distinguish yourself with superior academics you will still fail to reach the highest heights your wasp legacy counterparts will attain.

All too many wasp legacies with . . . how shall I say this . . . less than considerable intellectual prowess . . . fancy themselves the leaders of tomorrow. Precluding any societal upheavals, revolutions (or the like), they will be. The storied white anglo saxon protestant network is notoriously closed (e.g., inter alia, favors, nepotism, and old family friends) affording members access to opportunities the otherwise best and brightest cannot hope to aspire to (see Jamie Johnson’s revealing writings on the wasp establishment).

Turning our attention to the ivy league's most noted secret societies and final clubs (e.g., Skull and Bones, Scroll and Key, Porcellian, etc.) . . . these exclusively male organizations are widely regarded as the threshold of the leadership of tomorrow. These groups are chock-full of wasp legacies and are oft-criticized for running counter to the core principles of a democratic society (e.g., open information, broad empowerment, and entrepreneurship). Why do they exist again? . . . Oh, yeah, I almost forgot, it’s a secret.