Weiner in the Cloud

So . . . there's been a lot of weiner talk this week.  I was torn about what aspect of the Weiner story I should focus on: I could go with the "why can't male politicians keep it in their pants" angle, or I could go with the "what the hell is wrong with people that they think they can tweet their weiner and not suffer repercussions" angle.  I opted for the latter, and it wasn't just because of the phrase "tweet their weiner," which sounds like a cool party trick but is actually causing a lot of problems. 

Sure, the Weiner/Schwartznegger/Spitzer/Clinton positively promiscuous politician perspective was tempting, but it's a bit overdone and not really that interesting; some men can't seem to avoid being led by their weiner (yes, I am going for a record number of times using the word "weiner" in this post) and I don't have anything new to contribute on this aspect of the story.  The other aspect, that of the willingness (compulsion?) we seem to have to share the most intimate parts of ourselves (physically and otherwise) is more interesting to me.

Back when the movie The Social Network came out, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was quoted in a New Yorker article saying that he believed that privacy was an outdated notion, and that society would move past this.  As frightening as this sounds, I can't disagree that society is moving this way.  We post details, pictures, video, share stories, give opinions in a pretty much open forum available for anyone to see (even if a little digging is necessary to get by the flimsy privacy settings).  Whether I allow anyone or just my friends to see my family picture doesn't change the fact that once I post it I no longer have any control over it.  Like you, my friends have friends that I don't necessarily want seeing this stuff, and I can't be sure that this doesn't happen.

So for a politician with grander aspirations (or an athlete, or a private figure with something to lose) to send out pictures of his weiner to not only the woman he was having a long-term online affair with, but also several other young women, is beyond stupid.  I have heard opinions that he trusted them, or that he was self-destructive and wanted to be exposed (having already done so to his weiner), or that people in this position feel invulnerable due to their power (don't they follow the news?).  I don't know why he was so reckless - my best guess would be that recklessness was part of the thrill of it all.

(Aside: he also planned to run for mayor of New York City, which led me to the following unlikely-but-still-possible scenario: an Academy Award-nominated actor meets Anthony Weiner at a big gala after he wins the mayoral election.  Weiner says that it must be an honour just be nominated; the actor replies "yes, but I really want an Oscar, Mayor Weiner."  Ba-dum-ching.  But enough jokes.  Though it is nice that someone in Washington finally showed some balls.  Thanks folks, I'll be here all week.)

Earlier this week, St. Steve Jobs announced the iCloud, so users could upload all of their data to secure servers owned by Apple.  Why doesn't this set off warning bells in everyone's heads?  You are trading privacy for the ability to not have to sync your iPod.  Every bit of personal information collected is worth about two-fifths of a cent, so that cheap Cloud access isn't so cheap after all.  Especially if you have a picture of your weiner on your computer.

You might be thinking me to be hypocritical at this point, what with me having a blog as well as Facebook and Twitter accounts.  Where do I get off speechifying about maintaining privacy ("What a weiner!" you may proclaim)?  Whenever I post anything or discuss anything in my blog I am very aware that it will be available for anyone to see and could come back at me.  I keep my private life private and share only what I want.  And I will guarantee to all of you that I won't send you a picture of my weiner.  For those who are disappointed in that, click here.