Public Writing Space

The discussion of public writing versus private writing was really interesting in class today. I guess you can’t really assume that any writing will be private forever. When writing is done publically on purpose- for example, the graffiti we talked about or the open letter, the author or artist knows there will be some audience that they are tending to, but there is also the unintended audience that is created from the public space. I thought it was really interesting to think about writing that are now public which were intended to be private. The Weiner ordeal (and really any other sex scandal) is a great example. But more interesting to think about are the letters and diaries of historic authors who probably never imagined their writings in journals and diaries would be turned into books for the whole world to read.

I feel in today’s world, with the overwhelming use of social media and frankly the popularity of people wanting to know every detail about everything, nothing is really private. Everything is public. Newspapers, quotes from interviews, twitter feeds, Facebook posts, blogs and so on. Even if it was meant to be private ie text messages, voicemails, letters, and one wrong person gets their hands on it, it would now be released in a public space. I think it’s really bold to put something out there in the public writing space. There’s always the audience one is writing for in mind but what about for the audience that may not be expected? There are a lot of different emotions that could be brewed up from something written and I think that’s bold to write knowing that fact. This comes into play with the open letter that we discussed. I personally really enjoyed it and supported everything he said, especially the way he worded it, but I can see how that letter may have offended a large number of people. From the blunt language he used to the phrases he was using to support it.

The breakdown of the graffiti was really interesting. I had never thought about who the artist might be tagging for and what the message is that surrounds said tags. I understand that it’s art and is something I could never do, but I still see graffiti as illegal; which is probably a big part of why people do it. This also applies to the “F NEU” graffiti found in Holmes hall. I wonder who the person who wrote it was intending to read it. With public graffiti, the artist probably has an idea of who they want to read it but with the kid who wrote that in Holmes, I wonder who he wanted to see it. Graffiti is a lot more interesting to me since we’ve broken it down in class because I’ve never thought about the audience or message intended.

I don’t think there is an equal balance between public and private, especially with our world being so centered around technology. I also think people should be a lot more cautious of what they put in the public space and how it might effect those that come in contact with it.