Publicized

Compared to the other discussions in class, the one that took place today was the most intriguing simply because whenever there was an argument made, it would be refuted or complemented with another thought-provoking thought. I almost felt as if we were cultivating a piece of work. Professor Lesh always reminds us that written works are never finished because there is always room for something to be added, revised, or made better. Throughout the discussion, we were feeding off one another’s energy and contributions, only to go back to the thoughts that could have been established, and refining it to create something new.
This idea of publicity versus privacy is a very interesting subject. When writing or presenting something, we subconsciously write or present it towards an imaginative, intended audience. When our works are released, it displays the author’s choice of vulnerability and risk because the message of their work is up for interpretation. Take graffiti for example. Because of the preconceived notions and engrained suppositions of where it is rooted from and the type of people who created them, there is this barrier that forces misinterpretation. There is a difference when we see vulgar, inappropriate messages on the side of the road, versus when we see murals on the side of an elementary school. Not all graffiti is used to vandalize and voice negativity. Graffiti is a form of art that can be used as a means of positive or personal expression. And even though the authors are placed in a situation where their works can be interpreted negatively and are completely misconstrued from its purpose, there is an exciting sense of thrill when the viewers do not know the message or even the creator behind a specific piece of work. Nevertheless, granted that the location of these two works contribute to the intent of the message, there will always be this sense of privacy that shadows its purpose because the audience will, most likely, not know the process in which it became to be, who specifically designed this piece of work for this particular location, and so forth.
In a different light, everybody, whether we realize it or not, places themselves in situations where they are forced to trust. We trust that our messages on Facebook will not read by people other than our connected friends, we trust that when we submit an essay it will not become viral and spread over the Internet, and we trust that when we private our personal blogs online that it will not fall into anybody’s hands or eyes other than our own. However, when we briefly touched upon social media in class today, I thought it was more than appropriate that we came to a relatively conclusion stating that nothing is really private. For example, when we snap-chat images and  messages for one specific person, we are always at the risk of having them screenshot the image and posting it on different social media outlets, or even having him or her show another person who it was not originally intended for. It is that invasion of privacy from the public, even if it means one other person from our intended audience that shakes our trust. Even though people may not completely understand the private messages behind the images or messages that we share, it is the idea of publicizing our works that shakes our privacy. It is realizing that somebody out there in this world holds some sort of private knowledge about you that truly makes our work, our messages, and even our secrets, publicized.