Google ‘comming out’ with a new feature
A mild bit of contreversy has been stiring recently due to a change in Google-Reader. On the surface it seems simple enough. Google-Reader merged with Google-Talk. If you have shared a news item on Reader, the same news item will now be shared on Talk. Seems simple enough? Dont it?
The problem is that with Reader you could target spicificly who you shared an item with. On Talk, the item was shared with everyone on your list. Now on the one hand, you have aalready stated that the item is ok to ’share’. But on the other hand, just because you share somethign with one of your friends dosent meen you want to share it with all yoru friends. Most normal people understand the idea of ‘mixed company’ and that what you dont mind talking about with one group of friends, would worry you greatly if ever mentioned to another group of friends.
Or to be more spicific, just because you share your sexual orientation with one group offriends, dosent meen you want everyone knowing about your sexuality. The change in policy of Google Reader has probably accedently ‘outed’ at least a few people. The bulk of comentary I have read on this so far is atacking this from the direction of privacy concerns. Wether or not this is true (after all, the new articles on reader WERE flaged as ‘ok to share’) it does show a historic trend.
Sexual norms cycle through a very pridictabal 70-80 year cyele. There are very good reasons for this amout of time, but more on that later. The point is that there is a 35 year span where sexuality is in the public, folowed by another 35 year span where sexuality is behind closed doors. Since the ‘Out of the closets, Into the streets!’ mantra of the 70s, sexuality being made public has been the stronger force. Even today, the vindictive hatred againt the military ‘dont ask dont tell’ policy shows that nothing less that total and absoulte public disclosure will be tolerated.
People who are out of the closet are heros. They fight againt the odds to strike out boldly in the face of oposition. Their courage is applauded. People who are in the closet are cowards. They areashamed by who they are and they lack the will to stand up for what is right. For 30 years, people out of the closet have looked down their noses at people who are in the closet.
That will change.
People who are in the closet are going to start demanding to have their privacy back. Outrage that google did not respect peoples privacy is only the first gental hints of the times that are to come. Sexuality is going underground. And it wont be because our ‘oppressors’ forced us underground. Sex will vanis from the public eye because people will deband their oen privacy.