A few years ago I made vlogs.
Every week I would record non-stop, then pile the best clips into a 4-minute video to share with my followers.
On top of that, I would post daily Instagram stories announcing what I was doing, where I was, and my thoughts on various topics.
One day I realized just how much information I was sharing...
So I stopped vlogging entirely.
My private life had become public. And around that time, countless YouTubers were getting cancelled for obscure, practically hand-picked / out-of-context clips they had made years prior to their stardom.
The same content that was responsible for their rise to fame became the weapon to silence them when their way of life didn't fit mainstream narratives.
We saw examples of this everywhere:
- Kevin Hart removed from Oscars for old tweets
- Gina Carano fired from Disney for political affiliations
- Ellie Kemper for winning Queen of the Veiled Prophet Ball in 1999
And the list goes on and on...
Now I want to draw a fine line here, because the last thing I want people to do is self censor themselves because they fear the mob.
(Heck, if you want to vlog, you should do it)
My point is there are alternatives.
- You can create content anonymously (like me)
- You can be more intentional about the information you share
Most people are oblivious to these concepts, voluntarily sharing too much personal stuff because of societal pressures and tech algorithms.
A big example of this is vaccination status, where governments and social media apps literally encourage us to announce whether we have the jab or not.
These entities are empowered by the information we give to them!
Just think about it...
The reason New York has been able to get away with unconstitutional vaccine passports is because its government knows over 71% of its population is already vaccinated.
The same applies to when Joe Biden first announced his OSHA mandates on September 9th. Biden knew over 60% of the nation was fully vaccinated.
The data was in his favor.
Americans need to be more understanding of just how powerful their privacy is.
Instead of giving these overreaching entities the information they want and need from us to make the moves they desire to make...
Thanks for reading,
-Beavs
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